All about medicine

Health 2.0 Conferences to Attend

2010-03-22T18:13:00.000+02:00

I will attend a few conferences in the next 2 weeks and I thought I would share some links with you in case you become interested.

Conference: Digital Pharma Europe
Role: speaker
Venue: Bayer Schering Pharma Headquarters, Berlin
Date: 29-30 March

Conference: Healthcare Social Media Camp
Role: attendant/speaker
Venue: Kalkscheune, Berlin
Date: 31 March

Conference: Health 2.0
Role: speaker
Venue: The Cité Internationale Universitaire of Paris
Date: 6-7 April

See you there!

[Via http://scienceroll.com]

C&C4 DRM causing problems News | PC | Eurogamer

Jan van Rymsdyk - Drawer of Wombs

2010-03-19T10:00:00.000+02:00

Jan van Rymsdyk's most famous plate from William Hunter's "Anatomy of the Human Gravid Uterus".

In October 2008 I visited the Hunterian Museum in Glasgow, where William Hunter’s great book of obstetrics was on display. Published in 1774, The Anatomy of the Human Gravid Uterus did much to advance the understanding of human pregnancy. The book contains 34 copper engravings. 31 of these magnificent medical illustrations were made by a mysterious man called Jan van Rymsdyk.

I was interested in finding out more about this Dutch artist working in England in the 18th century, but soon realized that very little is known about him. Some historians can guess which artists he trained under based on his style and they think he was born somewhere in Holland between 1700 and 1730. He lived and worked in England between 1745 and 1780, but no one knows what he did before and after that period.

What is left after him is his medical illustration work for some of the most notable obstetricians of the time, including William Hunter and William Smellie, a book with drawings of curious items in the British Museum he published himself, and a handful of portraits.

For the British Museum book, simply titled Museum Britannicum, Rymsdyk (or Riemsdyk as it is also spelled) included several personal footnotes and commentaries that tell us something of what his life must have been like.

Jan van Rymsdyk’s first assignment as a medical illustrator seems to be for William Smellie’s Sett [sic] of Anatomical Tables, published in 1754. This was a visual companion to Treatise of the Theory and Practice of Midwifery and contained 26 (out of 39) plates drawn by Van Rymsdyk. The plates are much more detailed an life-like than other more schematic illustrations of the era, and it was probably because of this assignment that William Hunter commissioned Van Rymsdyk to illustrate his great book on obstetrics.

Demonstration of forceps delivery from William Smellie's "A Sett of Anatomical Tables". Engraving from a drawing by Jan van Rymsdyk.

For his book, Hunter was not interested in illustrations that showed an “ideal” uterus, but meticulous copies of real dissected specimens. In Hunter’s own words an illustration like this “represents what was actually seen, it carries the mark truth, and becomes almost as infallible as the object itself”. And this is exactly what Van Rymsdyk produced. William’s brother and famous surgeon John Hunter worked together with Van Rymsdyk in the dissecting room. John preparing the display from the corpse of women who had died in various stages of pregnancy, and Jan making life-size drawings in red chalk. These sketches were later made into engravings for the printing of the book.

Jan van Rymsdyk's original drawing (left) and engraving (right) from William Hunter's "Anatomy of the Human Gravid Uterus".

Comparing the drawings for Smellie’s and Hunter’s books you can see that Van Rymsdyk have improved his skills. The sketches are almost photorealistic reproductions down to the tiniest wrinkle and hair. Other painters of the time criticized Van Rymsdyk for being too accurate and detailed. They saw his anatomical illustrations as a lower form of painting, as it was “just” copying and not the result of an artistic mind. In Museum Britannicum Van Rymsdyk defends his style of work. Here is a passage where he describes why he thinks it’s important to cover every tiny little detail. It could almost pass as a description of macro photography:

there are three different ways of imitating an Object; the first is to dispose Nature at a tolerable Distance, suppose that of Fifteen Feet, where all the minutiae is lost, and only the Form, and grand Masses are to be seen; this Distance is in general approved of large Works, which are to be seen on high, as the Pictures on the Veiling at White-Hall, British Museum etc. The second or medium Distance, is where the small parts are more visible, as at Five Feet, or thereabouts; Painters never, or seldom exceed this, but the third is, where the Different Substances, and every minute Part is discovered by being brought so near the Eye. This Distance I was obliged to make use of, for to represent Nature in its greatest Beauty; the other two distances are what I would call only representing the Effect of Nature, as she appears at the Distance; or the Distance for an Artist to get a good deal of Money, and use much Art, but shew [show] little of Nature.

Reflection of a dissection room window in the chorion (outermost membrane) covering a fetus from William Hunter’s "Anatomy of the Human Gravid Uterus".

Ironically, it seems that Van Rymsdyk ended up feeling bitter about the only works he are known for today. In the conclusion to his Museum Britannicum book he writes that he has taken “a dislike to those Anatomical Studies etc. in which I was employed.” He also felt he had been ill-treated by William Hunter, who he accused of having discouraged him from becoming a “real” painter. Although he insistingly defended his style of art, it almost seems like he secretly did feel inferior to the “proper” artists.

William Hunter didn’t mention Van Rymsdyk in the Anatomy of the Human Gravid Uterus. The preface just refers to “the ingenious artists who made the drawings and engravings”. Maybe Hunter saw the dissection as the real art? Or the engravings that made it possible to print a book? Maybe it’s not so hard to understand he felt he had “Sacrificed his Talents”.

Whatever he felt, Jan van Rymsdyk will always stand as one of the greatest medical illustrators of all time. And although he drew and painted, in a way it feels like he was the first medical photographer, documenting the specific rather than the general. He certainly didn’t sacrifice his talents, but put them to use for a greater good – the advancement of medicine.

Sources:

Wendy Moore: The Knife Man - Blood, Body-snatching and the Birth of Modern Surgery, Bantam Books 2005.
John W. Huffman, MD: Jan van Riemsdyk – Medical Illustrator Extraordinaire, JAMA, April 7, 1969. Vol 208, No 1.
John W. Huffman, MD: The Great Eighteenth Century Obstetric Atlases and Their Illustrator, Obstetrics and Gynecology, June 1970, Vol 35, No 6.
Harry Mount: Van Rymsdyk and the Nature-Menders: An Early Victim of the Two Cultures Divide, British Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies 29 (2006).
Jennifer Tonkovich: ‘Rymsdyk’s Museum’ – Jan van Rymsdyk as a collector of old master paintings, Journal of the History of Collections, Vol 17, No 2 (2005).

Image credits:

Baby in womb
Forceps delivery
Drawing and engraving
Chorion with window reflection

[Via http://sterileeye.com]

Small Business News March 16 | Small Business Trends

Healthcare & Medical markets

2010-03-19T02:35:00.000+02:00

INDIA

According to IBEF (India Brand Equity Foundation), India healthcare industry which comprises hospital and allied sectors, is projected to grow 23 per cent per annum to touch US$ 77 billion by 2012 from the current estimated size of US$ 35 billion.

The sector has registered a growth of 9.3 per cent between 2000-2009, comparable to the sectoral growth rate of other emerging economies such as China, Brazil and Mexico. According to the report, the growth in the sector would be driven by healthcare facilities, both private and public sector, medical diagnostic and pathlabs and the medical insurance sector.

Healthcare facilities, inclusive of public and private hospitals, the core sector, around which the healthcare sector is centred, would continue to contribute over 70 per cent of the total sector and touch a figure of US$ 54.7 billion by 2012.

Adds a FICCI-Ernst and Young report, India needs an investment of US$ 14.4 billion in the healthcare sector by 2025, to increase its bed density to at least two per thousand population.

According to a latest report by McKinsey, driven by strong local demand, Indian healthcare market is expected to continue growing close to previously projected rates of 10 to 12 per cent. With average household consumption expected to increase by more than seven per cent per annum, the annual healthcare expenditure is projected to grow at 10 per cent and also the number of insured is likely to jump from 100 million to 220 million.

India Pharmaceuticals and Healthcare Report Q1 2010

India’s US$14.71bn pharmaceutical market is in a state of transition. As the country’s economy grows, foreign firms are increasing their presence, the government is spending more on healthcare and local firms are looking abroad for new growth opportunities. Through to 2019, BMI is forecasting a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 13.77% for medicine sales in India.

India’s attractiveness to multinational pharmaceutical has increased over the past quarter. The country’s score on BMI’s Pharmaceutical Business Environment Ratings has risen from 48.2 in Q409 to 52.8 in Q110. This has also resulted in India moving up to 9th in the proprietary rankings system. The main driver of this improvement was a re-assessment of both the size and growth of the pharmaceutical market. India’s Pharma rating is just below the regional average (53.2), but above the global average (51.5). Over the medium term, we fully expect India’s ranking to improve significantly.

India’s rural market represents an enormous opportunity for drug-makers and medical device firms. Although anticipated margins are slim, volumes of units sold will be large. In an effort to become the leading pharmaceutical firm in its domestic market, Ranbaxy revealed in December 2009 that it intended to penetrate the challenging rural market. Other companies with a similar strategy include Fortis Healthcare, Novartis, Elder Pharmaceutical and GE Healthcare.

BMI’s Burden of Disease Database (BoDD) reveals that non-communicable diseases – such as diabetes and cancer – have a slightly greater burden in India than non-communicable diseases – such as tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS. In 2008, a total of 99,892,742 diability-adjusted life years (DALYs) were lost to communicable diseases, while 116,772,455 DALYs were lost to non-communicable diseases.

JAPAN

Japanese healthcare industry is ranked second in the world, with its main challenge being the aging population.

Complete coverage of medical expenses by insurance adds a point to its rank. Thus, changes in the economy are likely to have little effect on the industry – even with the current decline in labor force and with increasingly aging population.

The pharmaceutical and drugs industry of Japan is challenged with issues pertaining to the launch of blockbuster drugs, sales and marketing productivity, and structural reforms. Bungyo – the separation of prescribing and dispensing drugs by doctors and pharmacists, – is soaring, and expected to reach 80 percent in the next five years.

With 100 percent insurance coverage for medical expenses and in view of the fact that physicians across the country charge a fixed fee irrespective of their qualification and experience, patients are choosing to go to bigger hospitals for treatment.

The medical devices industry is also highly competitive and is a trade hub for countries such as the United States and Europe. Demand from the growing population of aged people for better medical facilities is one of the reasons for the increasing volume of imports in this industry.

With the opening up the Japanese economy with less regulations across industries and sectors, the Government’s initiative to develop standards and encourage best practices across the healthcare industry is likely to enhance Japan’s global competitiveness. The country’s medical facilities are also expanding to meet the long-term goal of promoting development, raising the standards of living, and narrowing the gap with developed countries. This opens up plenty opportunities for more adventurous players.

Japan Pharmaceuticals and Healthcare Report Q2 2010

BMI forecasts Business Monitor International that the value of Japanese pharmaceutical market at retail prices will increase at a very modest compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 1.25%, as measured in local currency. However, when calculated in US dollars, growth will fall into negative territory. The market will reach a value of JPY9,619bn (US$87.45bn) in 2014, up from of JPY9,040.1bn (US$95.16bn) in 2009. Over our longer, ten-year forecast, we expect the growth rate to drop to under 1% as public purse-strings are tightened further.

Japan is looking to triple its generics sector by 2012. In 2009, generic drugs represented an estimated 9.4% of the total market by value, with BMI forecasting this share to increase to 15.5% in 2014, and further to 23.5% by the end of 2019.

Despite the low annual growth rate expected in the coming years, the Japanese drug sector continues to benefit from a large relative (per-capita consumption was estimated at almost US$750 in 2009) as well as absolute – with its population numbering over 127mn – usage of medicines, Indeed, in our updated Q210 Business Environment Ratings (BERs) table for the 15 key markets in the Asia Pacific region, Japan regained its pole position, previously held by Australia. Globally, Japan is ranked as the fourth most attractive market for multinational drugmakers, after the US, Germany and Canada.

Opportunities in the generics sector are to be increasingly explored by foreign companies, with Israeli generics specialist Teva and traditionally research-based Pfizer recently reporting their plans for entry into the market. In terms of other notable company news over the past quarter, Teva-Kowa Pharma, a 50:50 joint venture (JV) between Teva and Japanese drugmaker Kowa, entered into an agreement to acquire a majority stake in Taisho Pharmaceutical Industries. The acquisition will help Teva-Kowa to achieve its growth plan in Japan by bringing in local expertise and know-how.

Earlier in the year, Teva- Kowa announced its plans to start selling generic cancer drugs from January 2010. Leading Japanese drugmaker Takeda revealed that it would enter the South American drug market via the acquisition of a generic drugmaker in the region, though the company is yet to elaborate on any potential targets. Over the coming five years, pharmaceutical imports will grow at a faster rate than exports – benefiting from regulatory and pricing environment improvements – and result in an expanding trade deficit through to 2014, with generic medicines making a major impact in volume terms. The competitive nature of the multinational sector’s hi-tech imports will add to pressures on the pharmaceutical trade balance, especially as the level of domestic research and development (R&D) industry activity lags behind that in other major markets.

MIDDLE EAST

Middle East healthcare market estimated over $100bnAccording to a recent study, population in the Middle East has exceeded 370m and is estimated to reach over 520m by 2030.

Growing population, mainly dominated by the expatriate community in most of the GCC countries, has given rise to the a rapidly growing market for healthcare and its associated industries, which is now touching $100bn mark in the Middle East alone.

Healthcare markets in the Gulf region are changing quickly. Due to the huge increase in the expatriate population, it is also one of the fastest growing regions with an estimated annual growth of 15%. Business opportunities in the import-dependent marketplace of the five main countries in the region have dramatically increased from where they were a few years ago.

Saudi Arabia, as the richest regional market, has planned to increase the numbers of hospitals from 264 to over 500 in next 7 years. United Arb Emirates (UAE) is also setting trends in providing best healthcare standards on public & private level not only for the growing population within the country but also for patients from across the region seeking the best medical facilities. The UAE healthcare market is projected to rise from $3.2bn in 2005 to $11.9bn in 2015.

The market in the Middle East countries, however, is heavily reliant on the fluctuating price of oil, which dictates the strength of the economy and, in turn, reflected in healthcare provision and the pharmaceutical market. This trend necessitates a global interactive platform for the healthcare industry and medical community to explore the latest advancements, compare alternates and reach mutually beneficial conclusions.

SAUDI ARABIA

Saudi Arabia Pharmaceuticals and Healthcare Report Q1 2010

source: http://www.marketresearch.com

In BMI’s Q1 2010 Business Environment Ratings, Saudi Arabia is ranked fifth of the 17 Middle East and African (MEA) markets. This is a drop from the country’s previous second place in Q409 and is due to a drop in its score for limits of potential returns. From 2009 to 2014, the pharmaceutical market is expected to post a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.44% in both US dollar and local currency terms. Council of Co-operative Health Insurance (CCHI) secretary general Dr Abdullah Al Sharif has said that the council has plans to develop a comprehensive healthcare management system centred on health economics and pharmacoeconomics in conjunction with the Saudi Food and Drug Authority.

Since Saudi Arabia has both the largest population and the highest level of pharmaceutical spending in the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) there is a strong possibility that the Kingdom could itself become a medical tourism destination to rival Jordan. Saudi Arabian consumers will spend 4% of their GDP on healthcare by 2013 and the government is currently constructing more hospitals and recruiting more healthcare professionals to address issues with access to healthcare services in the country.

Chronic diseases such as hypertension, diabetes and obesity are forming an increasingly large portion of the region’s epidemiological profile. Domestic drugmakers in the region, such as Gulf Pharmaceuticals Industries (Julphar) in the UAE, are using exports to reach other GCC states; however, international accreditation for manufacturing practice would allow firms like this to target more lucrative global markets.

Saudi Arabia is highly reliant on foreign doctors for the provision of healthcare. An estimated 78% of the Kingdom’s 43,000 doctors are expatriates. Recently, Saudi Arabia recruited 500 doctors from Bangladesh for the 2,000 health centres across the country. In total, 4,000 doctors had been recruited to 150 new family health centres by early 2008. A further 7,000 should be recruited over the next few years in an attempt to bring the doctor:patient ratio down from 1:4,000 to 1:400. Many of these extra doctors are expected to come from abroad – mostly from less wealthy Arab countries such as Syria, Jordan and Egypt.

The shortage of nurses in the country has initiated an international recruitment drive to make up the deficit. In 2008, the Kingdom recruited 8,000 nurses, with a quarter of these from the Philippines. The government still holds long-term ambitions to decrease dependence on foreign staff, with places on specialist nursing courses reserved for Saudi women.

The country is in dire need of over 4,000 more medical staff. BMI would encourage Saudi Arabia to provide better training and incentives to provide more native doctors, while only using foreign staff as a temporary measure.

United Arab Emirates (UAE)

United Arab Emirates Pharmaceuticals and Healthcare Report Q1 2010

source: http://www.marketresearch.com

In November 2009 the UAE government announced that an independent federal authority will be established to regulate the quality and safety of food and drugs entering the country.

BMI believes that the successful implementation of this body – essentially a UAE version of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) – will be attractive to multinational drug-makers operating in the country.

We expect the total drug market to increase in value from US$1.31bn in 2008 to US$1.5bn by 2009. Thereafter, we expect the drug market to reach US$2.65bn by 2014, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 21% in US dollar terms.

Our extended 10-year forecast indicates that the market will reach US$3.4bn by 2019, showing a slow CAGR of 5.2% from 2014 onwards. We believe that as the second largest pharmaceutical market in the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) region after Saudi Arabia, the UAE’s introduction of a proper regulatory body is a wise move.

Saudi Arabia already has the SFDA, which affiliates testing laboratories for drugs and food products. We note that recently the fluctuations in medicine prices in the UAE have led to greater pressure on the government to import and manufacture more generic drugs. This is yet to happen due to the lack of testing facilities in the country. Bioequivalence and other quality control analyses are not consistently carried out for foreign medicines entering the UAE. Instead, medicines come from the EU or US where strict regulations are already in force.

Healthcare sector advertising in the GCC region during January-September 2009 was worth approximately US$162mn, according to the findings of UAE-based research group the Pan Arab Research Centre. The group has revealed that total 2009 spending on advertising for the industry could reach US$215mn. BMI believes that since the member states of the GCC are undergoing healthcare reform or promoting medical tourism (in the more developed countries), the increased spending on advertising is to be expected.

The creation of the Healthcare City (HC) in Dubai has yet to fulfil its potential for attracting international patients. BMI believes the Dubai government has to promote its medical tourism benefits more widely in order to gain considerably from its substantial investment. At present, the HC has 80 English-speaking clinics, with highly qualified doctors, cheaper prices per procedure than the US, no waiting times and the close proximity of holiday areas already renowned for luxury and relaxation. Construction of the second phase of the HC’s complex will include spas and other ‘wellness’ facilities. The completed complex will form the largest medical tourism centre between Asia and Europe.

For detailed reports, please go to Business Monitor International (BMI) http://www.marketresearch.com

Business Monitor International

Business Monitor International (BMI) publishes specialist business information on global emerging markets for senior executives in more than 125 countries worldwide. A wholly independent, London-based company, BMI has specialized in the analysis of global emerging markets since its foundation in 1984. BMI’s comprehensive range of weekly, monthly and annual reports contains the latest available data, forecasts and analysis on political risk, economic performance and outlook, the business environment, finance and leading industry sectors.

[Via http://bluoceanadmedia.wordpress.com]

Panasonic announce 2 New portable Digital Viera TVs in Japan ...

Obamacare, Health care bill, Truth from doctors and experts, Dr Milton Wolf, Paul Ryan, Parker Griffith, Sally C. Pipes, Dr. Todd Rubin, Congressman Mike Rogers, John Stossel, Health care videos

2010-03-17T18:43:00.000+02:00

Obamacare, Health care bill, Truth from doctors and experts

Here are some of my favorite videos and testimony and experts on Obamacare, the Health Care Bill being forced on us.

All you need to know about health care reform

* Note two of the videos are no longer available here.

What is the current attempt by Obama and liberal Democrats at health care reform all about?

Appeasing their far left core support.
More control over the American people to get votes.
Payback to trial lawyers and other big supporters (refer to contribution table above).
Achieving the goals of far left, socialist, communists who are controlling the party with the goal of redistribution of wealth..

http://citizenwells.wordpress.com/2009/10/13/health-care-reform-facts-truth-2010-elections-obama-lies-government-run-health-care-wealth-redistribution-all-you-need-to-know-about-health-care-reform/

The Difference Between Canada and the U.S. Health Care Systems

Sally C. Pipes understands Canadian health care. As the former Assistant Director of the free-market Fraser Institute, she lived under Canada’s national health care system.

Today Pipes is president of the Pacific Research Institute and author of the new book, The Top Ten Myths of American Health Care. She spoke at the Cato Institute July 15, 2009.

Parker Griffith Republican representative leaves Democrat Party over Health Care Bill

“A radiation oncologist, Griffith cited the Democrats’ health care plans as a reason for his switch. He was one of 39 Democrats to vote against the bill in the House last month.

“I want to make it perfectly clear that this bill is bad for our doctors,” he said at the press conference, according to the AP. “It’s bad for our patients. It’s bad for the young men and women who are considering going into the health care field.”

http://citizenwells.wordpress.com/2009/12/22/parker-griffith-announcement-switches-parties-griffith-republican-griffith-leaves-democrat-party-health-care-bill-bad-for-doctors/

Paul Ryan Health Care Bill truth, Rep Ryan exposes Health Care Bill lies

President’s Cousin Condemns Obamacare

[Via http://citizenwells.wordpress.com]

Mexico-bound tour bus rolls over, killing 2 near San Antonio ...

Total denuding process of terminally ill

2010-03-17T10:54:00.000+02:00

Total denuding process of terminally ill; (Mar. 17, 2010)

The hardest part for an incurable dying person is not necessarily being reduced to nothing after death; it is to be consciously reduced to a totally dispossessed non-entity before his death. Willingly or coerced to, an incurable dying person is forced to undergo total stripping of all his material belonging and his mental and physical potentials. For example, in the article “Befriending death”, Pierre “the fix it all”, had to finally ask specialized companies to do home repairs and finish off works in progress; he had to desist doing research work at his physics research institution; he had find capable replacement researchers to resume his projects; he had to give up positions in associations and organizations; he had to stop computing from statistics the exact date for his imminent death; he had to teach his wife and grown up children how to fix and repair things at home.

Pierre had to give up reading, listening to music, communicating, surfing the net; he had to forget what he accumulated in tools for home repairs. Pierre had to accept loosing possession of part of his body, his strength, sensations, taking interminable time to getting out of bed, unable to eat, to talk, to walk. Pierre had to be resigned to let go controlling and managing his family.

The last phase in dispossession is to let go of praying: come what come; the dying person is already “a prayer”. It is not only totally useless to pray by the dying patient’s bed; it is also frankly infuriating to the patient and family members: the dying person is already in another dimension and care less of what’s going around him. Pierre is entering a sort of “no man’s land of the mind” in silence.

It is entirely naïve and insane for friends to tell a dying person “You still can decide for life!” People usually lack the burning pains of what the terminally ill is experiencing. There is a time when living and dying is same different. Suppose a person has reached the final phases of total dispossession and then was told “Congratulation, you are cured. You can recapture your former job and get your previous activities back.” Do you think that this completely denuded person would still have the heart and energy to restart life from scratch like a newborn baby?

Note: this topic was extracted from “When befriending death” by Sylvie Garoche.

[Via http://adonis49.wordpress.com]

Kurtz: Fox News Employees 'Worried' That Glenn Beck Is The Face Of ...

Psychiatry Run - Midrun Updates

2010-03-15T10:54:00.000+02:00

Well, this run literally made me running alright.

Currently tonnes of chapter behind to catch up: personality disorders, cognitive disorders, mood disorders, substance abuse. And what’s more : diabetes, myocarditis, parkinsonism. Lest to forget the whole mumbo jumbo on drugs!!!

My logbook is barely filled up, case history yet to be identified and lite review on CAT (critically appraised topic) not kucing is not touched at all!!!

Otherwise, my consultant said that I am doing awesome!! …so she said, and I still feel yucky.. Bah..

[Via http://jingguo.wordpress.com]

"This is the year of Civ," says Meier News | PC | Eurogamer

Part 2. Life After Death...Life After Life

2010-03-15T02:47:00.000+02:00

Tom certainly did not want to die, and Marianne definitely did not want God to take him from her either, but they both trusted in God’s plan, no matter what the ‘earthly’ outcome would be. They truly understood the meaning of the words of St. Paul to the Romans, that it is God, not us, who is in control and that “…in everything God works for the good with those who love him, who are called to his purpose.” And perhaps it is not how Tom lived his life that was an inspiration, although I am certain it was, but more importantly it was how he lived it while he was dying that deeply affected mine. You see I truly believe that all things happen for a reason and while we may not understand nor see the purpose behind all that happen to us, we must have faith and trust in God’s plan for us. There is good in everything. This is a bold statement and one that many would scoff at, and perhaps even think is crazy. But that’s the thing about faith, it doesn’t make sense…it doesn’t have to.

God put us on earth to enjoy His creation and for us to be happy. But in reality, even if we live to be 100 years old, and most of us will not, that time is minuscule in relation to eternity. We spend so much time trying to keep ourselves looking young and accumulating possessions and when we die, none of it, is coming with us.

Why is it that so many people try to keep a ‘death grip’ on their life in this world? Perhaps it is reflected in the lyrics to the blues song sung by Coco Montoya, ‘…Ya know I hate to leave this old world, cause I don’t know what the next one is all about’. This phenomenon however is not confined only to nonbelievers, but the faithful as well. I suspect it is because as human beings living everyday in this world we are easily distracted into thinking that our appearance and worldly possessions actually matter. After all we are weak and frail, emotionally and sometimes spiritually, and often need to boost our physical self to feel happy. There is nothing inherently wrong with this as long as we remember what is most important to us long-term, and I mean ‘long term’! Personally, I am guilty of this as well. Quite a few years back when I was single and had few responsibilities, I used to work out regularly in the gym, lifting weights. Three or four times a week, for at least 2 – 3 hours at time, I trained intensely. Often, during my work out it would occur to me…I spend so much time and effort focusing on my physical health, that if I spent a fraction of this time on my spiritual life, how much better a person I would be and how much closer to God could I be! But that thought, though it frequently recurred in my mind, would dissipate almost as quickly as I moved on to my next set. It would only be years later when an injury sidelined my weight training that I would finally start doing my ‘spiritual reps’.

But I digress….Assume that through the scientific method and intensive research using our (God-given) intellectual power we discover the fountain of youth. Thus ends all illness and disease. No more cancer, no more lives stripped of their vitality by the ravages of Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease, no more tragic deaths of mothers and young children. Our physical beings live forever or at least for a long, long, long time. Then what? I am not saying we should not try to find cures but I believe all life is sacred both from a philosophical and Christian perspective. So do we indirectly or directly promote the death of one being for another? How do you make that choice? How can you? And to what end?

Glioblastoma multiforme is a monster of a brain tumor. For years it has proved to be a stronger and better adversary than anything we have used to kill it. Surgery, radiation, chemotherapy. If we have been able use something successfully to treat it, it mutates into something resistant and more aggressive. I have even ‘completely’ resected this tumor as evidenced by MRI scan, only to see it grow back, twice the size in less than 30 days! Recently, significant strides have been made in chemotherapy that has been hugely successful, even if on a relative scale. (See post of January 16th, 2010: Humility and a Malignant Brain Tumor). And one day I pray we find a cure, although I suspect we will always have death to face at some point.

It will be at that point that our true character will finally be revealed. Will we be afraid because we don’t know what the next world is all about or will we embrace it because we trust in Jesus’ promise of an everlasting life with Him.

A while back when my wife and I were in the process of adopting our daughter we met a couple like us, Mark and Karen, also looking forward to becoming united with their adopted daughter from China. He was an ophthalmologist. And it is quite interesting to me how many ophthalmologists I have met that are deeply committed Christians. Perhaps it has something to do with the realization that the ‘eyes’ truly ‘are the window to the soul’. Anyway, he told me of a story of a colleague, a friend of his that had a malignant brain tumor and he had exhausted all forms of treatment, and had death staring him squarely in the eyes. Mark asked him how he felt, was he afraid? And this other physician looked at him and said no. In fact he was excited! He was finally going to meet his creator and spend all eternity with him. “It’s going to be an awesome journey”.

Our life here on earth is far from inconsequential but it is in the way that we live that life that we will be judged by those we leave behind and by God in heaven.

[Via http://highpriestofmedicine.wordpress.com]

Fox News' Major Garrett Interviewed By Twitter | Mediaite

An Afternoon with Maggie Phillips in Berkeley: The Connection Between Trauma and Pain

2010-03-12T18:46:00.000+02:00

Chronic pain therapist Maggie Phillips will speak in conversation with North Atlantic Books publisher and writer Lindy Hough at the fourth Alternative Medicine event sponsored by Berkeley Public Library and North Atlantic Books on March 20, 2010, from 2-4 p.m. at Berkeley Public Central Library in downtown Berkeley. This is part of the free series Get Well! Alternative Practitioners Talk With You About Healing, sponsored by North Atlantic Books and Berkeley Public Library.

A licensed psychologist with 30 years of experience in clinical practice, Phillips uses a variety of methods, including medical hypnosis, EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), Somatic Experiencing (a bodywork trauma method), and Energy Psychology to work through a variety of clinical difficulties including anxiety, depression, panic, phobia, and health imbalance, along with chronic pain and mind body symptoms.

Dr. Phillips travels widely, giving workshops in China, Europe, and the U.S., while maintaining a local practice in Oakland. “Ten Reasons People In Pain Don’t Heal and How They Can” is a popular presentation at conferences that explores how a ten-point program can address barriers to healing from a “bottom-up” as well as “top-down” perspective.

The first hour on March 20 will feature a public conversation between Dr. Phillips and Hough. The second half will be devoted to audience questions. Refreshments and a book signing of Phillips’ Reversing Chronic Pain: A 10-Point All- Natural Plan for Lasting Relief will follow the presentation.

“We hope to further the public discourse, and thus the readership, about alternative health, or complementary medicine,” Lindy Hough said. “A wider demographic should be able to use these kinds of medicine, know their history, and see how effective they are in healing many conditions inexpensively, without recourse to drugs or surgery.”

“The Berkeley Public Library is excited to be working in partnership with North Atlantic Books to better serve the interest in mind/body/spirit their readers are seeking,” said Douglas Smith, Deputy Director of the Library. “We’re pleased to be expanding our programming, outreach, and collections in these important directions.”

An Afternoon with Maggie Phillips in Berkeley: The Connection Between Trauma and Pain

Get Well! Alternative Practitioners Answer Your Questions About Healing series

Saturday, March 20, 2010

2pm-4pm

Berkeley Public Central Library

3rd Floor Community Meeting Room

2090 Kittredge Street

Berkeley, CA 94704

Do you plan to attend this event?

Wheelchair accessible. To request a sign language interpreter, real-time captioning, materials in large print or Braille, or other accommodations for this event, please call (510) 981-6107 (voice) or (510) 548-1240 (TTY); at least five working days will ensure availability. Please refrain from wearing scented products to public programs.

[Via http://northatlanticbooks.wordpress.com]

Breaking: Reyes to start year on DL

The Business Roundtable: The Most Powerful Corporate Business Club Most Americans Have Never Heard of

2010-03-12T10:27:00.000+02:00

The Business Roundtable, an organization representing Fortune 500 CEOs, is at the heart of the Economic Elite’s power center.

The Business Roundtable: The Most Powerful Corporate Business Club Most Americans Have Never Heard of

David DeGraw, Amped Status

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 08:00:01 GMT

As I have previously explained in my financial analysis of the global economic system, in addition to my economic fact sheet below, the American market system lost approximately $800 trillion of market value during the third business quarter of 2009. And as I have already explained in previous Journal articles it’s going to take about a year for that $800 trillion of loss to be able to make its way through the entire American market system. So this of course is setting up the American market system for a second crash, which very well may take place within the next 12 to 15 business quarter’s.

That being said, the business Roundtable. It is a way for the wealthy to try to keep control of the money they have amassed and to make sure that regardless of any political activities or anything else that happens in this country that they will not have to give up their money. And as I’ve already explained, this kind of psychotic irresponsible behavior on the part of the wealthy is what is ruining the American economic system and the global economic system. Because you have these companies having to pay out such large packages for compensation for their upper-level management and executives that their compensation packages are now extremely inflationary. Furthermore, as a result of these huge compensation packages these companies have had to readjust. The cost of their goods and services so that they can get more money into their company as quickly as possible which means that the pricing of their goods and services has had to go upward in order to attract more of the wealthy and upper class as their customers. And that’s so that these companies can continue to get as much money into their company as possible. But because the upper class and the wealthy customers don’t I as often, these companies that are engaged in this practice end up without having as much cash on hand as they would like because the wealthy just don’t buy is often which means they are not providing these companies with a steady day-to-day cash flow.

And so as a result, these companies are for the most part operated by cash poor basis. And what most people in the United States don’t realize is that it doesn’t matter if a jobs bill is in fact, passed because even if a jobs bill is passed most of these companies have moved their business operations out of the United States in order to find employment more cheaply. And as a result, if any jobs bill is passed. It’s not going to do very much good because the American worker is not can be able to go to work for most these companies, because these companies don’t have those operations in these United States for the workers to work at. A good example is the Dell computer Corporation. Because Dell computers has taken pride in screwing the American worker to the extent where Michael Dell has hardly any business operations left in the United States. And that’s because Michael Dell doesn’t care about the United States. He actually hates this country and he hates most of the people in this country. Because all he wants the people of this country is to put up and shut up and for them getting us to give him. Our money, but he doesn’t want to give us and a customer service or anything for that my Aegis wants to take her money and tell us to go to hell.

And so that’s basically the attitude that a lot of these business Roundtable members have is screw America. And just give us our money. And what’s even worse is that this problem is really systemic throughout the entire world. Because in all of the major nations, corporations are doing exactly the same thing, where they are bastardizing their relationship with the nations in which they are headquartered. And then taking their business operations out of those nations in order to deprive workers in those nations from being able to work at those companies. While the same time, the companies are demanding that the consumers in the countries where they are headquartered still by the company’s products. But that the company is taking the attitude that it doesn’t like giving money back to the country in which they’re located.

And so as a result, you have unemployment levels in Spain of almost 40% and the unemployment level in France and the UK is close to 30% in Italy it’s much higher. And in Greece of course, the unemployment situation is a disaster. And this is all being caused by this kind of psychotic ethnocentrism and egocentric very selfish behavior were the major corporation owners are basically telling the world to screw off. And that they don’t really give a damn how many people they have to kill that these business owners are going to keep their money. And no one to tell them how to run their companies. And as far as they’re concerned hourly employees are nothing but crap to these companies. That’s why they don’t give a damn about hourly employees. That’s why Michael Dell of Dell computers has been sued so many different times by employees of his own company front their business practices. That’s why Michael Dell is more suits than almost any other computer company other than Microsoft.

Now, I realize that people don’t want to believe what I have to say, because they don’t like the fact that I actually do know what I’m talking about. But as my biographical profile in my economic sheet below very clearly shows I’ve been doing financial analysis for 42 years. And I’ve never once been wrong in any financial projection I’ve ever made. Just like I’m not wrong now. And what these business owners don’t realize is that they are on the verge of losing a lot of their money because he is the stupid bastards of the upper and wealthy classes don’t put up and shut up and that these business owners don’t put up and shut up and stop acting like a bunch of selfish bastards they are going to ruin the entire economic system is simply going to collapse, because it’s that fragile right now. And if it does then the stupid bastards won’t happen economic system to be able to steal money from they will have destroyed it.

So once again it doesn’t really matter what anyone in the economic community might want to say. The fact is that as long as the global markets in the United States market are acting in such an irresponsible and stupid bastard manner. Whereby these wealthy and upper class executives are nothing but a judge of lying stupid bastards who don’t give a damn about sustaining the market but only about how much money they can get out of the market, the American economic system will remain extremely fragile. And no jobs bill will ever work and no recovery will take place. Just the opposite is what is going to happen. Because if the psychotic behavior that is existing throughout the entire global economic system does not stop the Kondratieff wave will play out, where the second crash that’s coming in the United States will be so severe that hardly anyone with any money will be able to survive, much less the lower income people like myself. And it will all be because these rich stupid bastards of these large corporations like the Roundtable don’t really give a damn about sustaining the market. All they care about is getting their money and they don’t give a damn who they have to kill in order to get that money. And that’s why Rupert Murdoch is a perfect example of the really stupid bastard and irresponsible asinine behavior that wealthy business owners. Like Rupert Murdoch who are nothing but a much of God damned stupid bastards are really acting like. I made Rupert Murdoch is one of the most dishonest and most corrupted business owners anywhere in the world. He’s hated by everyone.

You are Murdoch doesn’t care. He wouldn’t care if he had to kill his own mother and kill his wife and children. Because as far as Robert Murdoch is concerned he only cares about money and if this children get in the way he will kill them. Just like you will kill his wife just like you will kill any elected official and kill anyone in this entire world to keep his money because he doesn’t care to Rupert Murdoch. Money is God and if you get in the way of money with the Murdoch he will kill you and New York second. Because that’s the kind of stupid ruthless bastard he is.

So again, as a financial analyst, which I’ve been like I say, for over 42 years. All I can say at this point is that if the extremely psychotic and horribly stupid and asinine behavior of bastards and ass holes. Like Rupert Murdoch does not stop it the stupid ass holes don’t stop behaving like a bunch of fucking God damn pieces of crap, who are more just in stealing as much money from this world rather than in sustaining the markets. Then without any hesitation I can say with absolute certain to that within 12 to 15 business quarter’s there will be a financial crash so bad in the United States. That none of you stupid rich bastards like Rupert Murdoch will have very much money left. Because the system of the destroyed. And when that happens Rupert Murdoch weakest die damned stupid bastard with a lot of money they can spend anywhere because the system will have been destroyed by his own God damned stupid bastard greed.

And finally. It doesn’t matter to me whether or not anyone leaves what I’m saying. Because simply because you may not leave what I’m saying does not mean that what I’m saying is not true. It only means that you are not seeing the truthfulness in what I’m saying. And that’s all it means. I will match my financial analytic ability against anyone or any computer anywhere at any time. Other analysts make mistakes. I never do. Anyone who’s ever worked with me knows that they know that if I work for them or do analysis for them that it’s always correct no matter what.

Economic Fact Sheet (Current as of March, 2010)

The United States currently has a national debt in excess of $12.5 trillion.
The interest on the national debt is now in excess of $11 trillion.
The operating budget for the United States government is now in excess of $43 trillion.
The members of the United States Congress stole $200 million from the Medicare fund, which was going to go for cost-of-living increases to Medicare recipients, so that the members of Congress could have their paper medical records converted to computerized medical records. The attitude by the members of Congress was that they didn’t care if they murdered American citizens as long as they get the medical protection they wanted.
The Christian conservatives and the Republican Party are taking the stand that they do not want American citizens to have any kind of healthcare the of healthcare is extended to anyone that the Christian conservatives or the Republican Party does not like. And this is based not on constitutional law or the Christian conservatives and the Republican Party being patriots. It’s based upon the Christian conservatives Republican Party demanding that the American government understand that no Christian conservative or Republican Party member will in any way ever support the US Constitution above their Christian religion and above their Christian Bible. And so as a result, their Christian Bible and Christian religion says that healthcare should not go to Hispanic Americans or black Americans or Jews or Muslims or gay Americans or Native Americans or anyone who is an immigrant that the Christian conservatives Republican Party just doesn’t happen to like.
And so as a result, the Christian conservatives Republican Party members are trying to commit mass murder in United States by denying health care to millions of American citizens who are in desperate need of medical attention. But the Christian conservatives Republican Party doesn’t really care about that because as far as they’re concerned if they have to walk through rivers of blood to make sure that their Christian religion and their Christian faith is supported more than the Constitution of these United States and the Christian conservatives will do just that.
The current level of unemployment in the United States is now over 9.7%.
The current cost for liquidating the national debt is now in excess of $40,000 per person, which means that every man woman and child in the United States would have to pay at least $40,000 to be able to liquidate the national debt.
When you look at the history of United States from the American Civil War until present day you find that the Republican Party and Christian conservatives were in total and complete control of the United States government every single time there was a financial crisis from the American Civil War to present day. And that basically means that all the policy decisions that were being made by the American government during these times when these financial catastrophes were taking place were being made strictly by Christian conservatives and the Republican Party . And of course that’s all public record.
As my financial analysis of the global economic system , in my see also section below, clearly shows, it was the Republican Party and the Christian conservatives under President Bush who gave the American banking industry $400 billion of taxpayer money and simply told the banking industry to use the money anyway they wanted to. And the banking industry did just that they use the money to pay for expensive gifts and presents and take vacations. To date, the banking industry has only paid back $30 billion out of the over $500 billion that was given to them by the American taxpayers.
The issues of profitability indexing, pursuant to profit margins and per unit costs and customer bases as they relate to compensation packages throughout the entire corporate sector have not been resolved. That basically means that most businesses are being held hostage by upper level management and executive employees in their own companies who are demanding more and more for their compensation packages. As a result of this most companies are having to readjust their per unit costs for their goods and services in such a way so that what they are doing is pricing their services and their products. So that mostly the upper class and the wealthy will be able to afford them. And this is being done so these companies and corporations can get as much money into their company as possible.
But they are in fact forgetting one of the major factors which is that while most of the money that any company gets comes from the wealthy are customers most of their day-to-day cash flow actually comes from the middle and lower income customers. This is true regardless of where that company exists. So as a result of this most of the companies in the corporate sector are operating on what is known as a cash poor basis. And this basically means that since they are pricing their goods and services in order to get the most money possible they are foregoing pricing their goods and services so they will be more affordable to the middle and lower income customers, which actually provide these companies with their day-to-day cash flow. And so as a result, these companies don’t have enough money to pay for employees or many of the other day-to-day costs that come up.
This factor has not been dealt with in any country in the world at this time. Furthermore, these companies are refusing to be honest about their financial reporting. They are constantly using and accounting,/statistical variance, which is .5%. And .5% variance is such a large variance pursuant to statistical and financial analysis that you can basically drive a moving van through the space. That is allocated for plus or minus error correction in the statistical analyses and financial analyses that are in fact done with .5% variance. This is why I have never used that level of variance statistically or financially. I’ve always used .05% variance because it is such a small variance that the statistical analysis of the profitability analysis cannot be falsified. It is true that using .05% variance does require an additional 100,000 to 200,000 calculations in order to be able to complete the analysis. But when you consider that the final product is incredibly more honest and reliable. It’s worth it.
The banking industry has turned cruel. For example here in Cleveland Ohio Keycorp is taking a lot of pride and threatening senior citizens and kicking them out of their homes so that they can foreclose on the property. This is happening all over Cleveland Ohio and KeyCorp actually is one of the most hated banks in the entire state of Ohio. But KeyCorp is not the only one who’s doing this practice. Because was really happening is that banks all over the United States are basically threatening senior citizens with foreclosure to the point where suicides are now escalating and accelerating at an alarming rate. So badly that the medical community is swamped by the number of suicide calls they are getting. And this is all happening because KeyCorp and other banks like KeyCorp are basically taking the attitude that they don’t care how many men and women and children they have to murder. They just want their money.
When you consider these kinds of factors are going on in the banking industry you realized that the other thing that’s happening is that senior citizens and homeowners are becoming incredibly sick. Do becoming physically ill as a result of the horrible attitude that KeyCorp in other banks like KeyCorp are pushing on the citizens. And there is no help for this at all.
Additionally, the medical community is helping with this because we have a hospital here in Cleveland Ohio called MetroHealth that basically is working hard. Just like KeyCorp to threaten senior citizens and have them thrown out of their homes. So that they can foreclose on the property. And basically kill the individuals. I have been personally threatened by KeyBank and MetroHealth and have recorded conversations proving that.
So MetroHealth does all these commercials where they’re talking about how good a hospital they are and yet they have been sued a number of times for Medicare fraud. They have also been sued by their own employees for unfair business practices. And they have lost doctors so badly because they don’t treat their doctors very well either. Nobody likes MetroHealth.
And for the record, it needs to be understood that my grandfather’s brother, Dr. ally Maschke, was the director of medicine at mount Sinai medical center here in Cleveland Ohio until his death. And my cousin, Dr. Victor Vertese, was also the director of medicine at mount Sinai medical center until his death. Additionally, my grandfather, Maurice Maschke, and his business partner, Mark Hanna, who founded the Hana mining company, which became the 3M company, basically built mount Sinai medical center in Cleveland. And in addition to that, my father, Maurice Maschke Junior, was on the Board of Trustees at Case Western Reserve University, University hospitals of Cleveland, Cleveland clinic, and mount Sinai medical center until his death. And in addition to that, my father, Maurice Maschke Junior, and I., were partners and co-owners of pioneer linen supply company of Cleveland Ohio for 25 years until 1975 when we sold the company.
So given all of the foregoing as actual facts. The only reason that the accelerated growth has taken place is because certain industries in the United States have in fact been making money. Only because their industries are addressing sections of the population who are otherwise disenfranchised by most of the business sector. For example Tyco International is a business that specializes and fire prevention and warning systems and security systems. And of course they’ve done a really good job because people are scared to death and living in their homes and there are so many foreclosures going on that people are having to protect their homes because in most cities the number of police has dropped so badly because most cities are in a huge budget crisis. In Cleveland, Ohio, for example, the city went from 1,500,000 people down to approximately 400,000 people in only a matter of months. And conditions are so bad in Cleveland that Cleveland is now charging nine dollars a month just pick up our garbage.
So given those facts Tyco International for one example is making a lot of money because people are having to protect their homes because they can’t really, the police that much because the number of police has dropped so the greatly because of the budget crisis going on throughout the world and throughout the United States.
Additionally, when you look at a company like Microsoft, who reported a huge profit. This is because Microsoft isn’t doing really well. Because they’re not the only reason Microsoft made this huge profit was because their previous product, Microsoft Windows Vista was actually one of the worst programs and products Microsoft ever created. And so since it did so terribly in the market naturally Microsoft’s increased now is looking fantastic, which is not because if you analyze the overall productivity and effectiveness of Microsoft you will see that they are basically floundering under Steve Ballmer’s direction.
So again, it’s really easy for people to talk about how well the market is doing that the foregoing represents the actual facts of what’s going on in business. And as I said before, I have been studying the stock market since I was six years old. At age 6 I started studied the stock market at Prescott ball and turban here in Cleveland Ohio. With one of the partner broker’s, Bernie Towell, who was a personal friend of mine. And so every day for four hours every day and age 6 until age 16 I studied the stock market and learned economics and financial analysis . At age 16, while working and being a partner and co-owner of pioneer linen spy company in Cleveland, I did my first financial analysis and profitability analysis . It was done on the linen supply company’s of Cleveland Ohio. The analysis was so good that the results were used to program some computers at the time. And in 42 years and having been a financial analyst I’ve never once been wrong in any financial projection I’ve ever done. Not once. Just like I’m not wrong now.
In my financial analysis of the global economic system in my see also section below, I clearly show that the American market system was going to lose $800 trillion of market value in the third business quarter of 2009. I further substantiated this claim last January in January of 2009. When I explained that the American market system was going to take a huge hit in the third quarter and that it would come out to about $800 trillion of market loss. And that this was in fact in line with the Kondratieff wave . And in fact that’s exactly what did happen. Which means the analysts were wrong. And I was right.
So again, if you go ahead and look at all these factors without looking at all of the peripheral details than you are going to be responding to the information in a very symptomatic, or symptomatically oriented manner whereby you will behave to the information in an extremely reactionary way. By the like term, if you look at all of the information regarding economics throughout the entire global economic system in a problematically oriented manner you will be looking at the financial information in a more anticipatory manner. And much more pervasive rather than in a stereotypical or linear manner. And as a result, you will begin to understand that all of these different factors that I have brought forth in this article right now. Actually do justify what I’m saying that the American market system is on the verge of collapse. And that the economic system for Greece is about to go under. And that unemployment in Spain and France and England is running at almost 30%.
These do not make things look like they’re going good in the United States is basically doing nothing but lying about the economic they I went to school with most of the people who run a lot of these companies in the United States and who are working on Wall Street either went to school with them at Case Western Reserve why went to school with them at Fort Lewis college board went to school with them at southern Arizona school in Tucson Arizona. Or, I did business with them throughout my life.
So again, this is a reality check. And all I can say is, if you don’t believe what I’m saying that’s not a problem. Because you haven’t believe me, for 40 years, what I’ve been talking about all of these issues facing the economic system in the United States and the global economic system. So why would you believe me now?
But the fact is that just because you may not believe what I’m saying doesn’t mean that what I’m saying is not true. Simply means you are refusing or are not able to see the veracity in what I’m saying and that’s all it means.

Your irascible kid will be ordered to get psychiatric treatments

2010-03-10T10:47:00.000+02:00

Your irascible kid will be ordered to get psychiatric treatments; (Mar. 9, 2010)

Any single behavior of yours has now a psychological label attached to it. An irascible kid is diagnosed “humor deregulation with dysphory”; an eccentric adolescent is treated for “syndrome of psychotic risk”; and if you are into much sex activities then you are labeled “hypersexual troubled person”

A few expert psychiatrists of the American Psychiatry Association (APA) have been efficaciously working for a decade on categorizing and revisiting the “Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). The proposed revisions are published on the APA site www.dsm5.org are opened for comments till April 20, 2010. The definitive version DSM-V is due on May 2013. Comments, validation studies, complementary evaluations, and the vote of the administration council of APA will deliver the final acceptance decision of this version.

Mental illnesses are intrinsically related to family and community supports, health structures, and mental customs in treatments; all these factors are irrelevant to multinational pharmaceutical companies with interest to globalize definitions of psychiatric syndromes and treatments.

Based on globalize diagnostics and criteria, individuals will be considered suffering from mental troubles, prescribed standardized psychotrops, and health insurance coverage encouraged. The president of APA, Alan Schatzberg, said “The DSM may have incidences on the way individuals perceive others and perceive themselves. It influences the nature of research and their methodologies. There are repercussions in justices, industries, and public health.”

There is no doubt that millions of people will be taking pills that were not necessary in many societies in the first place; they will suffer secondary effects that are more dangerous and harmful than the original ailments. Worse, the revised DSM-V will be imposed globally to include all societies as the definitive Psychiatric Bible. APA will enjoy hegemony in that troubled field.

For example, a “depressed” Nigerian would say he has burning in the head; a Chinese would say he has pain in the shoulders or stomach; a Salvadorian would claim to have sensation of intense corporal heat. Ethan Watters published “Crazy like Us: The globalization of the American Psyche”. There is a terrifying global tendency to de-humanizing people by imposing unified cultural outlooks.

Western, more specifically US, repertory of mental symptoms and treatments is trying to homogenize it globally, as if there are no specificities to various societies differing vastly from Western concepts of mental illness. Since it is Western States that are contributing mostly to natural disasters and catastrophes, then the US medical teams have disseminated their diagnostics related to post-traumatic ailments.

Multinational pharmaceutical industries are heavily lobbying to redefining mental symptoms so that they sell medical pills that DSM might be recommending, especially allowing public health institutions and health insurance to cover the mental disorders expenses.

[Via http://adonis49.wordpress.com]

Ubi under fire as DRM servers go down News | PC | Eurogamer

Urrh??

2010-03-10T02:45:00.000+02:00

I had hoped that Jenny McCarthy would have reversed her anti-vaccine stance, but as a recent piece on that bastion of pseudoscience, the HuffPo shows, sadly, my hopes have been dashed.

Armed with nothing more substantial than her ‘mommy instinct,’ the intuitions of which magically enable her to know more than all of medical science together, she is still touting her dangerous nonsense and conspiratorial fear-mongering.

She’s even stooped to defending the recently disgraced Andrew Wakefield’s claim of the link between autism and bowel disorders.

What a shame.

Some people just can’t face being shown wrong again and again…

Who’s afraid of the truth about autism, Ms. McCarthy? Take a good, long look in the mirror, and then ask yourself.

[Via http://kestalusrealm.wordpress.com]

Augment your SXSW reality (News: first indoor AR app released)

Utah Continues Reckless Efforts to Lock Up Pregnant Women

2010-03-08T17:40:00.000+02:00

Written by Lynn Paltrow for RHRealityCheck.org – News, commentary and community for reproductive health and justice. On Thursday, a Utah legislator withdrew a bill that would have allowed sentences of up to life in prison for a woman who experienced a miscarriage or stillbirth as a result of her “reckless” behavior. This move has been attributed [...]

Utah Continues Reckless Efforts to Lock Up Pregnant Women

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 14:47:00 GMT

With this being the attitude of the Christian movement in the United States, it makes perfect sense to me that NO CHRISTIAN will ever COME forward to explain why my (birth mother) was KILLED in 1950. I fully understand that the attitude of the Christians in these United States is one of “… KILL THE FUCKING WOMAN, AND BEAT HER TO DEATH! KILL HER, AT ALL COSTS… MURDER HER…BUT STEAL THAT FETUS. FOR ALL THAT MATTERS TO US CHRISTIANS IS GETTING THAT FETUS, NO MATTER HOW MANY DEAD BODIES OF WOMEN WE HAVE TO PILE UP ON THE GROUND. WE, CHRISTIANS HATE WOMEN AND WANT ALL WOMEN TO KNOW THAT WE CHRISTIANS WILL OWN THEIR FETUSES, EVEN IF WE HAVE TO KILL EVERY FUCKING WOMAN IN THE UNITED STATES…”.

Like I said, I fully understand why my Birth Mother was KILLED by these monsters here in these United States. When given the current circumstance where the Christians are so hungry for the killing of women that they want to KILL as many as possible just so that they can steal their fetuses, no wonder my birth mother was KILLED and then I was sold on the black market.

Like I’ve said. All of my life, it’s been the Catholics and the Christians who have called me repeatedly, a failed abortion. This story clearly shows me why. And This also convinces me that the PRO LIFE CHRISTIANS ARE NOT PRO LIFE BUT ARE DEDICATED TO MAKING SURE THAT I EITHER DIE OR THAT THEY WILL FIND A WAY TO COME AND KILL ME. FOR BEING A CHRISTIAN THESE DAYS MEANS KILLING AND MURDERING CHILDREN AND KILLING WOMEN, AND LETTING THE BLOOD OF DEAD WOMEN DRIP ON THEIR FUCKING BIBLES!

May God save me from this new Nazi movement where the Christians are now bringing a new inquisition upon the world, in order to MURDER as many people as possible so that hey, the Christians can then declare to God and Jesus Christ that they, the Christians are now prepared to KILL as many of God’s creations as possible to force God to understand that being a Christian now means KILLING and DESTROYNG as much of LIFE as possible.

Save me dear lord, from this new Nazi movement in the world. Let the Christians comes for me as they came for my mother … let these agents of HELL kill me as they murdered my mother in 1950.

I go to you dear God… for as i do… these anti-God bastards from HELL will not be able to stop you dear Lord from giving me the love you have, as they, these Christian bastards from SATAN, have tried repeatedly to KILL me because of how badly they hate you God… and how badly they hate all life…

I go to you God… where I shall be safe from this Christian inquisition of DEATH!

Annotations Regarding Non-Pro-Life Activities Of The Republican Party And The Christian Conservatives And The Catholics Of The United States:

The Christian conservatives and the Catholics don’t ever want to be responsible for the fact that since 78% of the United States is pro-life Christian that basically means that 78% of all the women and children murdered in the United States are killed by pro-life Christians and Catholics. It also means that Christians in United States are demanding that the world understand that to them being pro-life means killing, because while the Christian conservatives and Catholics are demanding that everyone understand they are pro-life. They are with their own actions, supporting a number of forms of killing.

78% of all the women murdered in the United States are killed by pro-life Christians and Catholics.
78% of all the children abused in the United States are abused by pro-life Christians and Catholics.
78% of all the children murdered in the United States are murdered by pro-life Christians and Catholics.
78% of all the murders that take place in the United States are committed by pro-life Christians and Catholics.
78% of all the soldiers in the United States, who go out and kill are pro-life Christians and Catholics.
78% of the membership of the National Rifle Association (The NRA ), which support GUNS THAT KILL are pro-life Christians and Catholics.
Every single white supremacist group in the history of United States has always been white fundamentalist pro-life Christian. And these white supremacist groups are dedicated to killing anyone who is not white and Christian.
The Army of God is a white fundamentalist Christian group who is dedicated to murdering and killing every single nonwhite Christian in the United States.
78% of all the people who favor and support the death penalty meaning killing people for committing crimes are pro-life Christians and Catholics.
78% of all the ministers in the United States who carry firearms to church and are threatening to kill anyone who comes near the church was not white and Christian are pro-life Christians and Catholics.
78% of all the crimes against gay people in the United States are done by pro-life Christians and Catholics.
Every month between one and two transgendered females are murdered and every single one of these killings is done by pro-life Christian.
White fundamentalist Christians were the ones who demand the right to own black Americans and to kill them whenever they wanted to during the signing of the The Declaration of Independence.
White fundamentalist Christians were the ones who took over the Republican Party during the battle of Washington and try to overthrow the United States government under president Hoover at the battle of Washington in 1932.
White fundamentalist Christians were the ones who took over the Republican Party on the evening before the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation during the American Civil War. And who then used the Republican Party to hire John Wilkes Booth to murder President Abraham Lincoln.

When you have all these forms of killing being supported by pro-life Christians and Catholics it’s easy to understand that the pro-life Christians and Catholics are demanding that everyone else be responsible for their own actions. But the white fundamentalist Christians and Catholics under no circumstances want to be responsible for anything they do because they are demanding that the entire world understand that to them being pro-life means killing, because that’s what they support killing. That’s why that those who claim to be pro-life are now becoming known as nothing more than, “Killers For Christ”. And of course it the white fundamentalist Christians and Catholics don’t like what I’m saying or want to take exception to what I’m saying they need to disprove everything that follows, and every single item in my see also section below.

Stop wasting your life away!

2010-03-05T02:43:00.000+02:00

What do you gain by working 10 hours or more 5 days a week or more?!!! You might laugh and say you have no other choice. No, you worry about what others are going to think of you. “I can’t quit my job. What would my co-workers think, what would my friends think, I’ll have to change my whole life. I need to keep this lifestyle even though it’s unhealthy for me!” Hey, you’re just wasting your life away doing that. Time is ticking your spouses and kids are waiting for you to spend time with them. You might say, but I don’t know how to talk to them, “I’M A WORKAHOLIC!” that’s all I know how to do. Uhh…here’s some ideas, pick up a parenting book. Remember the days before you became a money chaser? You had dates? It’s your life. Who cares what others will think you are important? Don’t be such a hard person.

[Via http://iamcountercultural.wordpress.com]

Small Business News for March 3, 2010 | Small Business Trends

Updates, updates.

2010-03-03T18:45:00.000+02:00

So I’m back to being my old withdrawn self – not good for blogging.

Aloof and quiet again. Why? Nothing big. Just the future looming with an ugly intimidating scary face. :|

Updates, updates.

I’ve been saving up for a camera. Have I mentioned that? Not going for the dslr’s even though that was a wish in Christmas. Looking on compact ones, easy to lug around with Belle in tow. I’ve decided on Panasonic Lumix FZ35. I am tempted to ask for financial help from those who can easily afford (i.e. my father) but been holding back. But tomorrow, I will seriously give it a try, the begging, I mean.

I’m starting with a compact camera because, that’s just it – I’m starting. I fear the dslr’s size and unlimited perks might be too much for me and my budget. I’m biting into photography although the photo subjects might be limited to Belle and our dog. In the future, I might consider an upgrade to the dslr’s and their lenses and filters. But for now, this is what my budget and skills would allow me. The FZ35 has manual exposure controls, even shutter priority and aperture priority. I don’t know exactly what they are but they sound appealing. I did my research on them and I am taking down notes. I am hyped to tweak these features. Another thing that got me drooling is the video capability. An exciting feature that I could use to record Belle’s quirks. She’s been singing and dancing a lot, and I mean all day every day a lot, and I want it all properly documented. I love the fact that it is compact yet a little bulky. It is chic yet rugged – does that even make sense? What I’m trying to say is, I see myself in this camera and I see myself using this camera. (Took a break to write down my love letter to my financer. *crossing my fingers) One drawback though: no hotshoe. Too bad for that. Other than that, I am inlove with this camera.

Update #2:

Already applied for medical school last week. Yey me…not. Took some exams for psych, mental aptitude, and one more exam I can’t remember.

I lied in the psych test. My friend said you can’t lie in those psych tests, she would know I guess since she’s a Psych Major. But I think I did lie. Putting up a front that I wasn’t shaken about my current problems – something like that. I had fun taking the other test, it was about choosing which profession you like between the two given. You can choose one, choose both or cross both out if you hate em. There were a lot of dream professions there: engineer, journalist, commercial model (haha!), surgeon, etc. That was fun. The IQ test was a bit testy. I almost ran out of time for that, hence, the mini-miney-mo technique on some of the questions. But all in all it was okay. Wrote two essays on “How do you see yourself 5 years from now?” Boy, that was hard to fabricate. Seriously, I do not see myself that far away in the future.

Rant:

My iphone’s battery has been draining way too fast lately which sucks because I limit my usage of it outside the house. I don’t play the games, I don’t listen to music just to lenghten the battery life. I’ve been reading up on it too. (Yes, I have been reading and engaging myself in geeky topics which is also partly why I’ve been neglecting you, bloggie. Sorry.) The battery life is a concern of a lot of other users too. Gahd. Been thinking of getting a new phone, a Blackberry perhaps? *roll eyes* I might get bored of the BB. I’ve been using my phone for almost a year and I love it and all the apps that come and can come with it. So switching to a BB might make me go on withdrawal. No more Oven Break Free, Moonlight Mahjong, Amateur Surgeon. Can I take it? Btw, does BB have apps? Aha, another topic to read on.

Last update:

Hometown is getting scarier and scarier by the day. Two days in a row, someone was shot dead in broad daylight by a man riding a motorcycle. No leads yet, AS ALWAYS. Two weeks ago, my cousin was shot by a man who rode in his car and tried to kidnap his kids. The elections in May is really stirring the people up. It is a scary time to live in Cotabato. Scary, scary times. My advice to fellow Cotabatenyos, while driving always check the mirror if someone is lurking behind you. You never know when they might shoot the wrong target and that unfortunately happens to be you. When a motorcycle gets close to your car, check if they look suspicious. If they are, find a way to lose them. If stuck in traffic, DUCK in your car? I don’t know if I’m making sense. Never go to a uncrowded place, road or alley.

Oh, and another thing: we have scheduled rotating brownouts. Our zone has these brownouts at 9AM, 3PM, 7PM. One hour with no electricity, three times a day, everyday. What’s up with that?

Oops.. This is the last, I swear. Product of the week is late this week, will post it tomorrow.

[Via http://maysea.wordpress.com]

Why Google News Needs a Human Editor? To fix Bad Placements

Personalized Medicine on the Spot

2010-03-01T18:34:00.000+02:00

Credit: Christopher Harting

A new device can rapidly test biological samples for genetic variations that could cause dangerous reactions to some drugs.

By Erica Naone

Different people can react to drugs in different ways, and in some cases the response can be predicted from their genes. For example, the drug warfarin, often used to prevent blood clots, can cause dangerous bleeding in some patients. Researchers have identified two genetic variations that can increase this risk.

Tests for this type of individual genetic variation have been available for a long time, but in many cases they cost too much and take too long. Nanosphere, a startup out of Northwestern University that’s based in Northbrook, IL, hopes to change that. Its Verigene system, which takes just a few hours to analyze DNA from blood or other material, allows doctors to test for genetic variations without having to send samples out to a lab.

A. Disposable cartridge

A single-use cartridge uses a combination of chemical reactions to isolate fragments of DNA from a patient sample and test them for specific genetic characteristics. The top half of the cartridge is discarded after this process is complete, leaving a prepared glass slide behind.

B. Bar Code

To help keep track of samples, a bar code is printed on the test cartridge and the underlying slide.

C. Reagent Wells

The necessary ingredients for the chemical reactions used to process the DNA are stored in wells located around the edges of the test cartridge. After the DNA is extracted from a sample, the machine uses air pressure and mechanical valves to release the ingredients from the wells as needed. Strands of DNA that are complementary to the target sequences are used to bind those sequences to the glass slide below the cartridge, as well as to gold nanoparticles that will allow the DNA to be detected when exposed to light. The cartridge washes away any excess DNA or nanoparticles and then sets off a reaction that coats the remaining nanoparticles with silver, which makes it easier to scan for them.

D. DNA Loading chamber

A DNA sample is loaded into the port shown here. Sonic energy, applied when the cartridge is inserted into the machine that processes the samples, breaks the DNA into small fragments and separates it into its two complementary strands so that it can be captured on the surface of the glass slide.

E. Glass Slide (Microarray)

After the chemical reactions have finished, the target DNA remains on the surface of the prepared glass slide, tagged by silver-coated gold nanoparticles. The Verigene’s reader can read the slide by shining light into it and measuring how that light is scattered by the tagged DNA. The system can be used to look for single or multiple genetic targets.

http://www.technologyreview.com/biomedicine/24581/

[Via http://thewere42.wordpress.com]

Gore: World To End, Fox News To Blame? | Climate Depot

Cheap Viagra-Treat

2010-02-26T18:48:00.000+02:00

This is a generic drug which has to prime indication to treat the erectile dysfunction or impotence by helping the blood flow into penis to achieve and maintain an erection that needed to have or give the passionate sexual pleasure.

It is an orally taken medicine which helps a man to revitalize the weak nerves of sexual glands as well as sustain the erection for longer period. It formulated to treat impotence which also known as the inability to sustain satisfy erection by relaxing blood vessels and lowers blood pressure while sexually aroused.

Those who think it is not possible to treat impotence as they have not enough amounts to spend for the treatment of ED Cheap Viagra can be a godsend medication for them. It is an effective oral treatment for impotence also known as the inability to attain an erection due to growing age or some other health problems. But there is one most important thing that man need to consider when he used this drug is that it is only a sexual stimulator so it is necessary for him to sexually arouse with his partner to get benefited with it instantly.

[Via http://tipsforgoodhealth.wordpress.com]

Organizing for America | Erica Sagrans's Blog: Morning News

Fortitude

2010-02-26T10:10:00.000+02:00

what does it take to reach a dream? do you abandon yourself to faith and God? do you ever question His infinite wisdom just like Job? who are we anyway to grumble about the things we “want” in this journey?

i move and think that what i desire is God’s. there goes confusion because NO ONE can ever fathom the thoughts of God (quoting Isaiah). i murmur when things fall short of my expectations. my heart breaks everytime the hurts and doubts assail. i cry and ask, “why,LORD?”. and that, is the saddest part. i always forget that i walk on two legs, breathe in ease, piss with bliss, taste a meal and move my fingers smoothly. i ask for things and never realize that i am blest beyond full measure. why do i even grumble? i only have this day and i am missing the magpies already because i am way engrossed with worries of tomorrow. one day at a time, LORD. Matthew 6:33.

“Rise up and walk”

I remembered Eleazar, one of David’s loyal men, fighting on the field until his hand was frozen tight to the swords’ handle. hmm, enough of pity-parties already. so little time left in this life. walk on, do what i’m suppose to do- live.

this is my favorite song when i was in high school. i heard this while on our way home from a Bible camp. to being young— OOORRAAAHHHH!

[Via http://aborlan.wordpress.com]

Facebook Gets Patent for News Feed, Potentially Hosing Twitter ...

Paying It Forward Big Time: New Yorker's kidney donation saved 11 lives

2010-02-24T18:41:00.000+02:00

Kidney chain recipients and donors

It’s called a kidney chain. And New York’s Christina Do started one when she volunteered a kidney to a total stranger. That single decision to help one person ended up saving a total of eleven lives!

The remarkable and inspiring story is in this month’s Glamour magazine. Click here to read it.

[Via http://wcbsfm.radio.com]

Yahoo knocked at Twitter's door | ABH News

Lucy Harmer’s Shamanic Astrology Forecast – February 19 to March 20: WOLF

2010-02-22T18:34:00.000+02:00

“Detailed and insightful, Lucy Harmer’s book is a fascinating fusion of astrology and the wisdom of nature that can lead you to a deeper communion with yourself, the earth, and all life.”

–Brandt Morgan, author of Vision Walk

Welcome to Lucy Harmer’s Shamanic Astrology monthly forecast for the Northern Hemisphere! Each month Lucy shares inspiration and ideas for the coming weeks from her book Shamanic Astrology: Understanding Your Spirit Animal Sign.

Shamanic Astrology is based on the study of the movement of the sun and the moon during the different seasons of the year. There are twelve astrological ”signs” which are represented by twelve different spirit animals. To find out your own personal spirit animal sign (the sign you were born under), please check the table of spirit animals at the end of this article. Shamanic Astrology teaches us that inner power derives from knowing the properties, characteristics, and qualities of each spirit animal (known as their “medicine”), and applying this in our own lives.

Each month I will focus on the spirit animal for that month, and describe the “energy” of the month itself and also the influence of the moon. I will also indicate which other spirit animal signs will find this month to be particularly beneficial, and why.

February 19 – March 20: WOLF

Month of winds and rebirth

Spirit Animal Sign of the Month:

Wolf is the spirit animal which corresponds to February 19 – March 20 (in the northern hemisphere). If you were born at this time, your spirit animal sign is Wolf and you share Wolf’s strengths of being sensitive, compassionate, generous, creative, loyal, trustworthy and imaginative. You may also share some of Wolf’s weaknesses and can have a tendency to be indecisive, secretive, evasive and lacking in willpower.

Medicine: Wolf’s medicine is the capacity to follow your intuition and instinct to protect yourself and others. To be used in any situation where you need to rely on your instinct to guide you.

Element: Water

Stone: Jade

Color: Blue/Green

Plant: Plantain

Energy of the season:

Wolf’s month is the time of winds and rebirth. The winds blow harder, but their effect is softened by the sun which gains in strength. Spring is on its way and the first appearance of flowers and buds announces the end of one cycle and the beginning of another. This brings a surge of energy and a promise of new beginnings. The winds bring transformation and rapid change. This period is ideal for developing intuition, instinct and altruism. The energy of this month is governed by generosity, hope and a renewal of energy.

Energy of the moon:

Wolf’s new moon started on February 14 and the full moon is on February 28. Wolf’s moon reinforces expression, receptivity, trust, empathy and sensuality. This is a good time to strengthen relationships and to develop empathy with others. Be aware though, as emotions run high, you may also feel slightly shaken and unsettled. The period after the full moon — from March 1 until March 14 — is a time of introspection; this is a beneficial time to delve into spiritual matters and increase inner knowledge. It is also an excellent time to uncover hidden desires and creativity. March 15 brings the new moon in Falcon; a time for new beginnings. This is an excellent time for clutter clearing — clean out those closets! It’s a time to let go of old feelings and regain a sense of joy, exuberance and optimism. This is a perfect time to exchange ideas and start new projects.

This month is particularly favorable for the following signs:

Wolf:

If your sign is Wolf the energy of this month is very favorable because it corresponds to the month and the moon of your birth. A new cycle is about to start in your life and this is the best time to start planting seeds. Use the sun’s energy to take stock and head off in a new direction.

Woodpecker/Snake:

If your sign is Woodpecker or Snake this is a very lucky month for you, with lots of harmony because you are in your own water element. A multitude of opportunities will open up for you in this period and this is the best time to give destiny a helping hand!

Beaver/Snow Goose:

For Beaver and Snow Goose people, this is a very dynamic month, full of energy which favors the conception and birth of new projects. You will feel new motivation and a renewal of your energy at this time.

Table of Spirit Animal Signs:

To find your spirit animal sign, just locate your birthday from the dates below, according to your place of birth. If you were born north of the equator (e.g., USA, Canada, Europe), then look for your date of birth in the column headed “Northern Hemisphere.” If you were born south of the equator (e.g., Australia, New Zealand, South Africa), then look for your date of birth in the column headed “Southern Hemisphere.”

Shamanic Astrology is available for purchase directly through NorthAtlanticBooks.com, as well as major book stores and online retailers.

CLICK HERE to learn more about courses, seminars and workshops offered by Lucy Harmer.

CLICK HERE to learn more about Shamanic Astrology.

CLICK HERE to learn more about Discovering Your Spirit Animal.

[Via http://northatlanticbooks.wordpress.com]

Faliszek: Valve will "look at" PS3 support News | PS3 | Eurogamer

İdrar kesesi zayıflığı

2010-02-22T10:55:00.000+02:00

BİTKİLERLE MODERN TEDAVİ

İdrar Kesesi Zayıflığı

Sık idrar yapma ihtiyacı, zor ve ağrılı idrar yapma, istek dışı idrar zorlaması, idrar ihtiyacı için gece uyanma, idrar kaçırma gibi şikayetlere genel olarak idrar kesesi zayıflığı (Neuralgia vesicae) denmektedir.

Hastalığın nedenleri arasında hormon dengelerinde değişim (hamilelik, menopoz), idrar yolları iltihabı, ışın tedavisi, üşütme ve sinirsel etkiler sayılabilir. Kadınlarda daha sıklıkla görülmektedir.

Hafif ve orta şiddetteki şikayetlerde bitkisel ilaçlar kullanılmalıdır. Çok ağrılı idrar zorlaması ve idrar yaparken ağrı, idrar kaçırma durumda hekim gözetiminde tedavi uygulanmalıdır.

Hormon dengelerinin sağlanması ve bağışıklık sisteminin desteklenmesi için her yıl 6-8 ay süreyle çörekotu yenmesi tavsiye edilebilir.

Tedaviye destek olarak günde 2-3 litre su içilmeli, alkol, kahve içilmemeli, idrarı asitli hale getiren süt ve süt ürünleri, et ve et ürünleri, narenciye meyveleri, ıspanak, çilek, baharat yenilmemeli, bulgur, pirinç, patates, meyve ve sebze yenmelidir.

Dahilen Kullanım Bitkisel İlaçlar:

Altınbaşak otu: İdrar artırıcıdır, hafif kramp giderici etki gösterir, iltihaplanmayı önler, mikrop öldürücü etkisi vardır.

Kullanım süresince günde 2-3 litre su içilmelidir.

İnce kıyılmış 2 çay kaşığı ot fincana konur, üzerine 150 ml kaynar su ilave edilir, fincanın ağzı kapalı olarak 10 dakika demlenir, süzülerek içilir. Çayı taze hazırlanarak günde 3-4 defa içilebilir.

Huşağacı yaprağı ve ayı üzümü yaprağı ile birlikte kullanılması etkiyi artırır.

Canotu kökü: Kramp gidericidir. Hazır ilaç tarifine göre kullanılır.

Kabak çekirdeği: İdrar şikayetlerinde kullanılır. İdrar kesesini kuvvetlendirir. Günde 10 gr çekirdek içi 2-3 defada yenir. Etkisi uzun sürede ortaya çıkar 4-5 ay süreyle kullanılmalıdır.

Altınbaşak otu ve bitkisel sakinleştirici ilaçlarla (Kediotu kökü, şerbetçiotu çiçeği, lavanta çiçeği, depresyon halinde sarı kantaron) birlikte kullanılması daha etkilidir.

Tedavi amacına uygun olarak idrar artırıcı, iltihaplanmayı önleyici, mikrop öldürücü bitkisel ilaçlardan yararlanılabilir (Bakınız: İdrar yolları iltihabı ve yıkama tedavisi).

Çörekotu: Günde toplam olarak 15 gr çörekotu yenir. Bu miktar 2 veya 3 e bölünerek yemeklerden 30 dakika önce öğütülüp, az suyla yenir. Rendelenmiş bir elma veya armuda öğütülmüş çörekotu katılarak da yenebilir. Şeker hastası olmayanlar, pratik olması açısından haftalık kullanım miktarını öğütüp bekletmeden tahin-pekmeze karıştırarak yiyebilirler. Dişleri sağlam olanlar çiğneyerek yerlerse diş eti bakımı da yapılmış olur.Öğütülmüş olarak hazır satılan çörekotu alınmamalıdır, çok zararlıdır.

Not:1- Çörekotu hamilelik döneminde yenmemelidir. Doğuma bir hafta kala başlanıp emzirme süresince yenirse anne ve çocuk sağlığı açısından çok faydalıdır.

Çörekotu yeterli miktarda omega-3 ihtiva eder, ilave olarak omega-3 takviyeli gıdalar yenmemelidir.

2- Hamilelik, emzirme dönemi ve çocuklarda kullanılması sakıncalı bitkiler dikkate alınmalıdır.

Kaynaklar:

1- Dr. Ahmet Toptaş, Alman kanunlarına göre düzenlenip izin verilen BİTKİLERLE MODERN TEDAVİ, Gonca Yayınevi, İstanbul 2009, ISBN: 978-9944-790-31-4, (0212) 5285076-5286005.

2- Dr. Ahmet Toptaş, ÇÖREKOTU Tepeden tırnağa şifa deryası, Gonca Yayınevi, İstanbul 2008, ISBN: 978-9944-62-613-2, (0212) 5285076-5286005.

[Via http://w2q3.wordpress.com]

Fox News Tries to Spin Away Ron Paul's CPAC Straw Poll Victory ...

Is there an alternative?

2010-02-19T10:26:00.000+02:00

I read an article recently in a well-known London newspaper which raised an issue I have been thinking about for a long time. What happens when unregulated medicine actually causes more harm than good?

I won’t name names (although the original article does), but in a nutshell, a woman was prescribed pills by a practitioner of Chinese medicine containing the (subsequently banned) substance [aristolochic acid] to treat her acne. On the one hand the pills did their job, and the acne cleared up, but on the other hand they were destroying her kidneys, inducing urinary tract cancer and eventually led to a heart attack. The woman now needs dialysis treatment three times a week and is no longer able to work.

The problem here stemmed from the fact that the sale of Chinese medicine is completely unregulated, and it is pretty unlikely that a practitioner selling the pills is going to have a subscription to Mutagenesis, in which a 2002 article reported the following

It is concluded that there is significant evidence that AA is a powerful nephrotoxic and carcinogenic substance with an extremely short latency period, not only in animals but also in humans. In particular, the highly similar metabolic pathway of activation and resultant DNA adducts of AA allows the extrapolation of carcinogenesis data from laboratory animals to the human situation. Therefore, all products containing botanicals known to or suspected of containing AA should be banned from the market world wide.

And anyway, this study proved to be too little, too late. By the time the ban was in place, the woman had been taking the pills for a little over five years, and the damage was irreversible.

Now I’m not suggesting that we should blanket ban alternative therapies because of one mistake (albeit a pretty huge one). And as my esteemed colleague RPG has previously noted, many alternative remedies have active ingredients which really do work.

However, I can’t help feeling that if alternative medicine (and I use the term ‘medicine’ with the lightest touch) wants to be taken seriously, it really needs to become self-regulating, and ensure things like this can’t happen again.

What form might that regulation take? Well for a start we could insist that all practitioners of alternative medicine are registered with and accredited by their respective council. For Chinese medicine this would be The Chinese Medicine Council, UK. Secondly we need to give these independent bodies real power, the ability to blacklist practitioners and ban substances without exception, and ensure that the medicine suppliers are subject to rigorous product testing before bringing new products to market.

[Via http://blog.f1000.com]

Courthouse News Service

2010: The Washington March For Life Really is Getting Younger Every Year.

2010-02-19T02:29:00.000+02:00

Every year I’m very amused at our Media who is so naive and blind about the March for Life in Washington. It’s like there is this dark shadow cast over our major media studios. Like its disgusting and shameful to be in favor of life. The Media hides away like they are embarrased to be part of something they can understand as a great Movement of our time and on par with the Civil Rights Movement.

This year the majority of our newsanchors reported badly about the March in Washington DC. It was huge and I hope it grows even bigger every year and that more and more people find the time to get down their in January of every year.

As it has been put to me anyone born before 1973 were from the times of illegal abortion but all the young after 1973 are considered the survivors of abortion. Their mothers could have had them aborted at anytime under any tri-mester.

Well the Media is very misrepresented when it comes to the facts and they have no taste in the most exciting protest still in existance today.

Next year if you get the chance watch for the March for Life in East Coast in Washington and also the March for Life West Coast.

I’m very proud that there are many people standing for life. I think that the first suffragettes would be proud of these people both young and old alike. The first responders to women’s rights who didn’t support abortion were Susan B. Anthony and others of her day in Seneca Falls. Abortion is not a blessing just ask someone from Rachel’s Vineyard for Post Abortive Men and Women. Abortion has not solved our problems it has presented new one’s to our society. I agree there has to be a better way for women but not what our present Administration is trying to perpetuate for our world. We do not have the money to police the world when it comes to so called “reproduction rights” which spells A-B-O-R-T-I-O-N.

I can’t speak for everyone because in this country were given one vote— that vote to was paid in blood many times over since the conception of this great nation. If we want to truly evolve we had better find more educated ways regarding spacing and population of planet. Not the old ways of past cultures who sacrificed their children in heinous ways on bloodstained alters. Abortion isn’t a new sacrifice its a new spin on the old ways of the past hiding behind the so called sophisticated medical technologies we institute today.

See Link to Article about the someone who was at the March: http://pop.org/201002111186/old-media-misses-the-mark-as-youngsters-march

[Via http://jean2010.wordpress.com]

Bits Scan: Wednesday's Tech News Roundup - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com

Acknowledging the pain

2010-02-17T10:43:00.000+02:00

Today I saw his mother, standing in the Clinic’s hallway, waiting for papers to be filled out, signed and handed over, so that she could go on with all that needs to be done. Standing, but barely, shaking, each moment fighting back the tears. I was there for the M&M, tired, high-strung, overdosed on caffeine. I met her gaze and looked away, took the elevator, sat through the conference. When I came back down, she was still there, fragile, grief-stricken, alone in the world. So I went over to tell her how sorry I was, and hugged her, let the tears flow for a minute or two. I hardly think it made a difference. But then, I don’t want to be this person who looks away and says nothing. Acknowledging the pain and the loss is the least we can do when we can do nothing more. A millionth fraction of her pain is my pain, too. I need to face it for so many reasons, hers and mine, and those of all my future patients. And then, in a day or two, I need to let it go…

[Via http://moonmaid.wordpress.com]

Evan Bayh to Retire: More Bad News for Democrats - The Gaggle Blog ...

Trouble from Huntsville Hospital

2010-02-17T02:02:00.000+02:00

NOTE: I share the following with explicit permission.

A dear, elderly and retired friend of mine will, in coming days, be scheduled for surgery. Most likely, the procedure(s) will be performed at Huntsville Hospital.

Because my friend is retired, she receives a modest (meager would be more appropriately accurate) private pension, supplemented with Social Security income. Altogether, she has monthly income of under $1500. She has no other financial resources, no stocks or bonds, no trust fund, no secret Swiss bank account or any retirement savings.

Because of some troubles initiated by the Internal Revenue Service – the result of a genuine mistake NOT made by her – she continues to suffer negative repercussions from numerous levels of governmental agencies, all which have some aspect in the delivery of compassionate care, either through medical resources, or others.

Specifically, she was receiving assistance from the state of Alabama in paying the Medicare premiums, and was receiving Medicaid, which is the medical assistance provided for low-income individuals and families. Because of the error, the assistance she was receiving from the state and federal agencies was changed, reduced or eliminated – all to her detriment. She has no other form of savings, or retirement benefits.

Previously, she had a bout with breast cancer, resulting mastectomy and reconstructive surgery, one knee replacement surgery, laproscopic knee surgery on the other, a couple of bladder tacks – a procedure to assist maintain continence, and two cataract surgeries – one which created significant problems and nearly blinded her in one eye, requiring another opthalmic surgeon of international renown to correct.

As I write, her shoulders are needing surgery to remove calcium deposits that are causing excruciating pain, and resulting weakness. Because of arthritis, one of her hands has been so weakened that surgery to improve its function may be shortly forthcoming. Naturally, diagnostic imaging (MRI, X-ray, etc.) for all the above will be necessary.

The aging process brings with it well-documented problems, most notably which are hypertension (high blood pressure), sometimes diabetes, cataracts, and other degenerative processes that interfere with normal function, sometimes also causing significant problems to the extent that surgical intervention is necessary to alleviate or ameliorate (reduce) the problem. Corollary to that are several prescriptions to treat the symptoms, none of which can cure, and provide only temporary relief.

Socially, she is twice widowed, has two adult children, the elder male whom suffers from Multiple Sclerosis and a resulting forced medical retirement for nearly 17 years, and a younger working self-employed daughter whom lives on the poverty borderline with her working self-employed husband and two teen children.

Despite all this, she leads an active life, has a resilient attitude and though often in pain, complains only when the pain is greater than she can adequately bear, or when the pain medications wear off.

Now to the present issue at hand… Huntsville Hospital.

Acknowledging that she will need assistance in praying for… er, paying for procedures, she has availed herself to whatever channels exist for the same at Huntsville Hospital, providing them with an official statement from her financial institution about her monthly income.

Huntsville Hospital, not being satisfied with the official statement from her credit union, has demanded she provide her monthly statements instead.

Shocked and outraged at their inordinate request, she has refused, because as she said, “they already have an official statement about my income.”

“Sometimes,” she said, “for convenience, my daughter may deposit her money into my account and then have me write a check to her for the same amount. So, it doesn’t accurately reflect my situation. And besides, why do they need to know how much I pay for rent, gas, groceries, credit card or utilities?”

She quickly added that, “They [Social Security and Medicare] know my situation, that I’ve received help, that my income hasn’t changed, and Huntsville Hospital talks to those official agencies regularly.“

[Via http://warmsouthernbreeze.wordpress.com]

Bioshock 2 takes number 1 position in UK chart | News

Food: the disease and the cure

2010-02-12T10:11:00.000+02:00

Again, some food for thought after reading ‘In defense of food‘ by Michael Pollan.

At the moment several food related diseases, like obesity and diabetes, are booming. But instead of using common sense, people rely on health care. Already doctors are excellent in keeping people with heart diseases alive. And they are on its way with obesity and diabetes. Diabetes is accepted as completely normal more and more. Apparently it is easier or any how much more profitable to change a disease of a civilization into a lifestyle, than change the way that civilization eats.

Forgive me if that sounds too cynical. But to me it’s important to take responsibility for my own life, for my own health. So, please take this advice from Dr. Matters: eat your veggies and live juicy.

[Via http://juicematters.wordpress.com]

News desk massacre in Ventura - LA Observed

Cambodian Medicines Are Successful at Foreign Markets - Thursday, 11.2.2010

2010-02-11T18:31:00.000+02:00

The Mirror, Vol. 14, No. 651

“When the company PharmaProduct Manufacturing (PPM – ‘French medecines produced in Cambodia’) was established in 1996, no one expected the extent of success it would achieve at the Cambodian market and around the world. But 14 years later, this Cambodian pharmaceutical plant is very successful in exporting pharmaceutical products to foreign countries. At present, Cambodian medicines produced by PPM have established their markets in 15 countries around the world, because the quality of Cambodian medicines produced by PPM is recognized.

“Representatives from 13 countries dealing with medicines produced by PPM met in Phnom Penh during the annual convention of PMM, which coincided also with the 50th anniversary of the invention of [the antalgic drug] KINAL. During the meeting with foreign representatives from 13 countries in the evening of 8 February 2010, the director of PPM, the pharmacist Mr. Hai Ly Eang, reported about the success of Cambodian medicines made by PMM at foreign markets, and pointed to the plan to further strengthen foreign markets.

“The foreign importers of PPM products are from Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Congo, Gabon, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Mali, Mauritius, Niger, Senegal, Tchad, Togo, and Vietnam.

“During the occasion to greet those foreign representatives on 8 February 2010 on a ship on the river, the director of PPM, Mr. Hai Ly Eang, said, ‘That we are all on the ship at this time shows the success of PPM, because we are traveling on the same ship, we cooperate and we provide mutual support.’

“He added that representatives of these countries significantly contribute to support PPM to progress at the markets in their countries. The sales of PPM medicines keeps on increasing every year in the 13 countries from where their representatives participated at this occasion in Cambodia.

“The leader of PPM called on and encouraged all foreign distributors to continue to support PPM.

“Besides, PPM announced to expand its markets in the country as well as abroad. The expansion of markets abroad for medicines produced by PPM will be made by spreading a deeper and more intensive understanding of the quality of the PPM pharmaceuticals.

“As for the strengthening of the local market, it will be made by stressing, ‘If we use Khmer medicines, we will create jobs for Khmer citizens, and we will work towards a future where Cambodia is self sufficient in supplying and controlling pharmaceuticals and the health sector.’

“When Cambodian citizens and doctors use more medicines directly produced by Cambodia, it creates not only jobs for Cambodian people who work at pharmaceutical plants, but it also prepares the way for a future, where Cambodia can produce enough for itself and can control its medicines and the health sector.

“Nowadays, PPM exports 50 types of Cambodia produced medicines to foreign countries, among them Gynomax against uterus inflammation, Panol (Paracetamol) for fever, Pyrantox (Pyrantel) for de-worming of children, Caltoux for dry cough, Carbotoux for cough with phlegm, Bibactin, Diaryl for Diarrhea, Septyl for cleaning the mouth, Rhinex for colds, Appetine for appetite, Allergyle for allergy, KINAL for reducing pain, and many other medicines.” Rasmei Kampuchea, Vol.18, #5123, 11.2.2010

Newspapers Appearing on the Newsstand:

Thursday, 11 February 2010

Deum Ampil, Vol.4, #411, 11.2.2010

The Rate of Men Smoking Cigarettes in Cambodia Dropped to 48% in 2009 [and of women to 3.6%]

Kampuchea Thmey, Vol.9, #2174, 11.2.2010

Germany Grants US$1,370,000 to the Cambodian Mine Action Center (CMAC)

Khmer Machas Srok, Vol.4, #603, 11.2.2010

The Siamese [Thai] Supreme Court May Expropriate [Thai ousted and fugitive prime minister] Thaksin Shinawatra’s Money and Property Amounting to over US$2 Billion [over corruption]

Koh Santepheap, Vol.43, #6881, 11.2.2010

Border Crossings in Kamrieng District Are Points Where Luxury Wood Is Exported to Siam [Thailand] without Any Control [Battambang]

Moneaksekar Khmer, Vol.17, #3809, 11.2.2010

The Government Makes Efforts to Grab Land for Yuon [Vietnam] to Plant Rubber Trees to Fulfil a Plan of 100,000 Hectares by 2010, while Khmer People Are Crying because They Have No Land

Phnom Penh Post [Khmer Edition], Vol.1, #109, 11.2.2010

The Opposition Party Asked the Government to Send the Anti-Corruption Draft Law to the National Assembly [so that its contents became known]
The Construction of a Malaysian Electricity Plant Using Coal Begins Today in Sihanoukville [it will provide 100 megawatt of power, and the construction will be finished in 2012]
Twenty More Children Having Cholera Were Sent to the Kunthak Bopha Hospital [the director of this hospital, Dr. Beat Richner, wonders why Khmer citizens have not been informed and alerted about this cholera outbreak - Cambodian authorities just call it 'diarrhea' and do diarrhea treatment, which is not useful for cholera]

Rasmei Kampuchea, Vol.18, #5123, 11.2.2010

Thailand Steps Up Troops along the Border, Especially at the Ta Moan and at the Ta Krabei Temples
Google Is Reviewing the Border Map between Cambodia and Thailand Again [in response to a Cambodian demand, claiming that it shows that Cambodia loses some territory to Thailand]
Cambodian Medicines Are Successful at Foreign Markets

Sereypheap Thmey, Vol.18, #1874, 11.2.2010

The Opposition Parties [the Human Rights and the Sam Rainsy Party] and Civil Society Raised Human Rights Issues with the US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State [Mr. Scot Marciel]

Have a look at the last editorial – you can access it directly from the main page of the Mirror.

And please recommend The Mirror also to your colleagues and friends.

[Via http://cambodiamirror.wordpress.com]

AMERICAblog News: Over 70% think Sarah Palin is 'not qualified to ...

FYI: Trivial Pursuit - Some Fun, Interesting and Just Plain Odd Facts and Tidbits about Arthritis - Ashley Boynes, Community Development Director, WPA Chapter

2010-02-10T18:54:00.000+02:00

Nothing is “fun” about living with one of the forms of arthritis. However, I personally am one of these people who wins at Trivial Pursuit because I can easily recall seemingly useless information and am someone who likes to quote fun facts and random tidbits of info on a wide range of various topics. So, I figured, why not go on a virtual treasure hunt for some fun, interesting, and odd facts about arthritis and related conditions? I’ve done my research, and decided to share my findings with you…..because you just never know when you may need some of this useful and even not-so-useful arthritis trivia! So, sit back, relax, and enjoy….

FYI:

Did you know…..?

T-Rex meets R-A? –> It has been proven that dinosaurs were susceptible to joint, muscle, and bone diseases. Some researchers say that the first evidence of arthritis was primary ankle osteoarthritis in dinosaurs.

Arthritis is one of the oldest diseases known to mankind and has been discovered in the remains of people who lived over 500,000 years ago. The first known cases of arthritis in humans historically date back to 4500 B.C. Some reports and historic documents qualify arthritis as the number one most common ailment in prehistoric people. Wonder what they did to manage the disease?

A vocabulary lesson: the prefix “arth” means joints. The suffix “itis” means inflammation. Hence, the name, arthritis.

Indirect and direct costs of arthritis combined costs the United States government at least $124 billion dollars a year. Yes, you read that correctly! This is why prevention and early diagnosis are so important.

Arthritis is the #1 leading cause for disability in United States citizens over the age of 15 years old.

Arthritis used to be treated by using GOLD. In some extreme and rare cases, gold compound injections can still be used to treat some forms of arthritis!

The most prevalent demographic group affected by Rheumatoid Arthritis is women in their 40’s. That being said, ANYONE of ANY age, gender, descent, etc. can be affected by this condition, which is autoimmune in nature.

There is no evidence either way for claims that climate alone can either cure, cause, or treat arthritis. However, the majority of arthritis patients do say that weather does, in fact, affect how they feel.

Our furry friends can get arthritis, too! Approximately, 1-in-4 adult dogs will develop arthritis. It is usually treated by medications and often affects larger breeds.

There is not scientific proof that foods can help or hurt arthritis. However, most studies show that a healthy diet does help in arthritis treatment. Some naturopathic doctors claim that gluten, dairy, and/or nightshade vegetables can be detrimental to anyone with an inflammatory condition. There is proof that herbs such as ginger and turmeric help fight inflammation.

Arthritis and joint pain are sometimes a comorbidity with or symptom of other autoimmune diseases such as Celiac Disease and Multiple Sclerosis. Joint pain and/or arthritis can also occur in patients with Lyme Disease and thyroid problems.

Famous people get it too! Famed actress Lucille Ball, singer/choreographer Paula Abdul, NBA player Allan Iverson, the late pop megastar Michael Jackson, actress Kathleen Turner, French painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and American entertainer Jack Benny, all have/had one of the 117+ forms of arthritis or related disease. It has been reported that pop star Britney Spears has arthritis in one of her knees, and many famous people have been suspected of having fibromyalgia including: Charles Darwin, Florence Nightengale, and Frida Kahlo. Actresses AJ Langer and Susan Flannery also have fibro. The daughter of actress Jennie Garth and actor Peter Facinelli suffers from Still’s Disease – a rare form of Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis.

You absolutely cannot get arthritis from cracking your knuckles or other joints. It is an “Old Wives’ Tale!”

In the 2006 “Rocky Balboa” movie, Duke mentions that Rocky has arthritis in his neck, a bad knee, and calcium deposits on most of his joints. Even legends can get osteoarthritis — the type that comes with age, and wear & tear on the joints! It does commonly affect athletes.

Arthritis patients who are underweight are more prone to complications from cardiovascular disease.

Sunlight is a great source of Vitamin D which is essential for building healthy bones. In Ancient Rome, gladiators would bask in the sun to “heal” their aching bones and joints.

Some people believe that the Holy Bible hints at certain herbs that can be used in healing ailments such as arthritis. One of the ones most commonly referred to is Aloe.

About 300,000 United States children and teens under the age of 18 have arthritis.

Ergonomic, lightweight cooking tools with easy grips & non-slip handles are very helpful to people who have arthritis. Great for in the kitchen!

Rheumatoid Arthritis sufferers usually need about 10 hours of sleep and a 1-or-2-hour nap during the day. Doctors advise RA patients to sleep until they feel rested. Unfortunately, this often is not realistic for many people with RA.

When you “crack” or “pop” your joints, the sound you hear is usually gases such as oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon dioxide “escaping”. These gases are found in the synovial fluid. Sometimes, the noise is from ligaments and tendons shifting, or simply from the roughness of the joint surface.

Different forms of yoga can be beneficial for arthritis! Some of the more “unique” examples are “laughter yoga” and “chair yoga!”

More than 200 years ago, a gout attack kept the English statesman William Pitt from stopping the passage of a tax on tea by Parliament. The tax led to the Boston Tea Party and the independence of the American colonies.

Roman Emperor Diocletian exempted citizens with severe arthritis from paying taxes, realizing that the disease itself can be taxing enough. (Maybe this should be reinstated?)

Arthritis accounts for 427 million days of restricted activities, 156 million days in bed and 45 million days lost in work annually in this country.

The word “Lupus” is Latin for “wolf.” The disease Lupus was named 130 years ago by a French doctor who thought the signature rash on the face of lupus patients resembled the bites of a wolf.

Some people with Rheumatoid Arthritis are wheelchair-bound, others can run a marathon. Some have serious complications, others do not. The symptomology of this condition are vast and varied, affecting each patient differently and on different levels.

You have a one in five chance of experiencing some form of rheumatic disease, such as arthritis, during your lifetime. (Yes, You!)

Three times as many women as men are diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. 90% of all lupus patients are women.

In China, traditional treatments including herbal remedies, acupuncture, acupressure and massage, and moxibustion (the burning of substances on the skin to remedy illness) account for around 40% of ALL health care.

There is currently a “FibroDuck” movement to spread awareness of fibromyalgia. One million rubber duckies are being sent out. The hopes are that people will purchase a duck, and take photos and YouTube videos of the duckies with them on their travels. As they upload pictures and video to the site, money will be donated to the cause of fibromyalgia.

The TV show “House” has shown cases of Sjogren’s Syndrome, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Celiac Disease, and other autoimmune conditions….these are often very hard to diagnose, thus providing a nice storyline for each episode as they try to solve these medical mysteries!

Sjögren’s syndrome is a chronic autoimmune disease in which a person’s white blood cells attack their moisture-producing glands. Today, as many as 4 million Americans are living with this disease. Sjögren’s syndrome reminds you to stay positive, right in the name, as it is pronounced, “Show-Grins!”

That’s all for today! We’d love to hear any of your interesting or fun trivia facts related to one of the types of arthritis and related disease – so please do leave your thoughts and comments!

Stay well, and thanks for reading!

~ Ashley Boynes

Community Development Director

Arthritis Foundation, Western PA Chapter

“Voted Best Blogger in Pittsburgh!”

**Disclaimer: The facts mentioned in this blog are for education and entertainment, and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of the Arthritis Foundation, Western Pennsylvania Chapter. Always consult your doctor for medical advice!

[Via http://arthritisfoundationwpa.wordpress.com]

Green House launches USB 3.0 Interface Board, max. 5Gbps transfer ...

Do you have a cold or a cold or allergies? How Chinese medicine can help these conditions?

2010-02-10T02:22:00.000+02:00

The nose, sinuses, throat, bronchi and lungs are infectious diseases, the most common site. They are also parts of the experience, and allergy related symptoms.

How can herbs help? Well, there may be a little, there are important and powerful anti-bacterial, anti-virus and anti-fungal medicine to combat these annoying and sometimes severe illness.

In addition, there are vanilla essential oils, these anti-corrosion effect, is exhaled.

Astringent and drySound and weak organization. Some plants even more mucus the nose, throat or lung beneficial conditions. Therefore, they almost all acute and chronic respiratory diseases, allergies, and many valuable state.

To soothe and heal the throat and bronchial importantly, they also further infection or damage caused by free radicals obstacles to dry tablets of other herbs.

Expectorant soft dried hard waste, and mucus and expelled from sputumAirlines. These are moist cough, asthma, emphysema, but also to help set up the postnasal drip, or sinus congestion clear mucus.

This can be very useful, if you like the common cold, influenza, asthma or hay fever patients. Some herbal medicines is a real antitussives, which stimulate the nerve endings in the brain and reduce. Others help calm muscle spasm bronchial tubes, which many Nervina or sedative effects.

There are lung tonic, there are very specificAffinity of the bronchi and trachea. The lung is an important detoxification, and the deployment of these supplements to help their ability.

[Via http://catscratchfevers.wordpress.com]

8 million register for Free Realms | News

Too good to be true...BioNumerik's Tavocept for NSCLC

2010-02-08T10:07:00.000+02:00

BioNumerik has recently started recruitment into it’s Phase III trial with Tavocept in NSCLC.

This is a drug with the dual promise of both enhanced efficacy and attenuated toxicity when combined with conventional combination doublet chemotherapy.

The trial is described thus by BioNumerik:

The Phase III Tavocept trial is an international, randomized, multicenter, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial to be conducted at approximately 80 to 100 clinical sites in the United States, Russia, Ukraine, Eastern Europe and Latin America. The primary objective is to confirm whether Tavocept plus taxane and cisplatin chemotherapy significantly increases overall survival in patients with advanced primary adenocarcinoma of the lung compared to taxane and cisplatin treatment alone. Tavocept’s ability to prevent or mitigate common chemotherapy-induced toxicities will be prospectively evaluated by pre-specified secondary endpoint analyses. BioNumerik estimates that patient enrollment for the trial could be completed in late 2010 to early 2011.

The uniquely distinctive aspect to this trial is that it is intended to confirm the suggestions from earlier randomised trials of possibly the longest benefit yet seen in advanced NSCLC (7.7 months for adenocarcinoma).

And there’s more to come…the earlier trials showed medically and statistically significant reductions in favor of Tavocept in the incidence and severity of side effects commonly observed with the chemotherapy control regimens, including reductions in kidney toxicity, anemia, nausea and vomiting, and treatment discontinuation due to chemotherapy-induced neuropathy.

Can’t think of many (any) drugs with this degree of potential for simultaneous improvements in both utility and tolerability.

Keep an eye on this one!

[Via http://supergme.wordpress.com]

New Jersey Devils Morning News, Feb 7 - In Lou We Trust

2010-02-05T09:04:00.000+02:00

Jamie Heywood has intertwined social networking with the journey of discovery. His brainchild, Patients Like Me is revolutionizing social networking for people who share the common thread of suffering from a life changing condition.

His work began when his brother died from ALS at 31. Heywood, his little brother and a colleague from MIT took his brothers experience of physical decline and turned it into something extremely positive. A social experiment for people to share their experiences, intertwine many variables and individual stories, find trends and convert that into relevant data.

Given my status, what is the best outcome I can hope to achieve, and how do I get there?

As the wise say, its universally understood that you must give to others and contribute to your community in order to be successful. That’s precisely what those ~45,000 patients that are utilizing Patients Like Me are doing; they’re sharing their stories as data and contributing.

Their stories are changing the way medicine is operated because each variable brings relevant, up to date variables it into context of delivery of care. With this open network, a patient with a mood disorder can see what conditions are bring treated, drugs that are being prescribed, side effects, blood work, and other components of care.

Patients Like Me will engage the medical community, and as long as the information being distributed is not taken out of context and most importantly a licensed medical professional is monitoring you, it seems this social networking experiment really is amazing.

By Keyana Azari

[Via http://keyana.wordpress.com]

Fallout: New Vegas bound for autumn News | Eurogamer

SoundBite: Hearing Aid on Your Teeth

2010-02-03T18:04:00.000+02:00

I love innovation in healthcare.

For people with conductive hearing loss, Bone Anchored Hearing Aids that are implanted surgically use the skull to transmit sound to the inner ear. SoundBite bypasses this problem.

SoundBite hearing system is the world’s first and only non-surgical and removable hearing solution designed to imperceptibly transmit sound via the teeth to help people who are essentially deaf in one ear regain spatial hearing ability and rejoin the conversation of life. It employs a well-established principle called bone conduction to deliver clear, high quality sound to the inner ear. Nearly invisible when worn, the SoundBite system consists of an easy to insert and remove ITM (in-the-mouth) hearing device – which is custom made to fit around either the upper left or right back teeth – and a small microphone unit worn behind the ear. No modifications to the teeth are required.

Source of Photo: Sonitus Medical

Reference: Preliminary Evaluation of a Novel Bone-Conduction Device for Single-Sided Deafness

More pictures here…

[Via http://scienceroll.com]

Photo of the Week: iPod touch in California | iLounge News

Layman's Guide to Natural Medicine

2010-02-03T02:41:00.000+02:00

WILDCRAFTED HERBAL PRODUCTS IN ASSOCIATION WITH KURRAJONG NATURAL MEDICINE CENTRE

PRESENT

THE LAYMAN’S GUIDE TO NATURAL MEDICINE

Commences: Wednesday 17th February 6:30 to 7:45pm

Venue: Kurrajong Natural Medicine Centre

Shop 7/1147 Grose Vale Road, Kurrajong Village, NSW, Australia

This 6-week course is designed to answer questions you may have about Natural Therapies. It unravels the often confusing and misleading alternative health care information commonly available and aims to increase understanding and insight into the health benefits Natural Medicine has to offer.

The topics to be covered week by week will be focused on the core forms of natural medicine practiced in Australia today and an overview of the secondary modalities will be given.

Course participants will have an opportunity to ask questions during a ten-minute Question and Answer time at the end of each weekly session.

There is No Charge for attendance BUT BOOKINGS ARE ESSENTIAL PLEASE!

Week 1:

Introduction to Natural Therapies – Just Placebo or Real Medicine?

The differences and similarities between Natural Medicine, Natural Therapies, Complementary Medicine and Alternative Therapies are examined; Training, Qualifications and Regulation of practitioners.

Weeks 2 & 3:

Traditional Chinese Medicine:

The philosophy behind this ancient system of medicine is outlined, including Acupuncture, Chinese Herbal Medicine and Moxibustion. The theoretical aspect of how these fit into contemporary health care is explored.

Weeks 4 & 5:

Western Herbal Medicine & Naturopathy:

The Western Herbal Medicine tradition is highly eclectic and has quite a different application to that of Chinese Herbal Medicine. The ways that herbs have been traditionally used are examined and their contemporary use discussed. Herbal Medicine is often used by some Naturopaths but can be considered to be too interventionist by others. The basic principles underlying the philosophy of ‘nature cure’ are explored are discussed in the context of modern lifestyles.

Week 6:

Body Work & ‘Natural Exercise’:

It is well-known that structure and function in the body are inter-linked and it is on this basis that ‘natural’ or ‘alternative’ forms of body work and exercise are based. This week we look at the roles of Remedial Therapies, Massage, Chiropractics and Osteopathy in health care and explore why exercise forms such as Tai Chi and Yoga are better for you.

To Book or Enquire Phone: (02) 4573 0784

[Via http://alternativemedicinenews.wordpress.com]

News Ticker: Kokua Festival, Trent Reznor, Noel Gallagher, Pauly ...

The use of natural healing herbs in alternative medicine

2010-02-01T10:40:00.000+02:00

Image : http://www.flickr.com

People have been using natural herbs for thousands of years. Naturopathic physicians, acupuncturists, Ayurvedic doctors and herbal plants and to order their patients to help in the healing process. Many people also herbs to cure themselves, because the natural treatments or can not afford to prefer non-prescription medications.

Ayurvedic medicine is the traditional medicine of India. This is a complicated medical system and isis considered the oldest form of organized medicine. Ayurvedic doctors categorize people into 3 different types or doshas – Vata, Pitta and Kapha. These doshas all have different characteristics. In Ayurveda, we have all these doshas, to some extent, but tend to require more features than others. When the doshas are out of balance disorders and diseases are caused in the body. Ayurvedic physicians use a combination of massage, diet and natural herbsto correct this imbalance and lead to healing.

Traditional Chinese medicine is another ancient form of medicine. The representatives of this medicine believe that a life force that runs through the channels of the body. This life force called Qi (Chi) and channels are called meridians. When Qi flows freely, when the channels that are healthy. If Qi is blocked at your illness and pain. Acupuncturists insert fine needles into points along the meridiansunblock qi. Natural Herbs are an essential part of medical practice. They are used to relieve symptoms and promote healing.

Naturophaths be trained in natural medicine. They use herbs and nutrition to help you get rid of treating the symptoms.

Food stores are specifically trained in the use of herbs as medicine. They have a lot of knowledge of plants and can often teach about herbs that grow naturally in your area.

If you are used to treatwith the help of herbs, you should work with your doctor. herbs can react badly with prescription drugs. Therefore, it is important that you get your doctor for advice. Be sure to read so much as possible on the grass before using it. Because, obviously, does not mean it is safe. Many herbs have side effects that you need to be aware of. If used properly, could kill.

It is better, the herbs under the supervision of a healthProfessional who is well known that different herbs react to each other. This person can recommend the right herbs for you and customize the visitor when necessary. With their guidance, you can use herbs to bring you back to health.

[Via http://herbsandtheiruses.wordpress.com]

Bad news for Omar Khadr? Sort of - Canada - Macleans.ca

Heartburn and ulcer medicine may cause vitamin B-12 deficiency?

2010-01-29T18:25:00.000+02:00

Image : http://www.flickr.com

There are many different medications that work by reducing the amount of acid in the stomach. Some are as histamine-2 (H2)-blockers, and are now available over the counter. This class includes popular brands such as Zantac (ranitidine), o) Axid (nizatidine. These products work by blocking the H2-receptor site and thus reducing the amount of acid produced by the stomach. There is also a strong class of drugs such as Proton pump inhibitors are known. One of these products,Prilosec OTC is available over the counter, while the rest can be supplied on prescription. These products include Nexium (esomeprazole), Prilosec (omeprazole), Aciphex (Rabeprazole), Prevacid (lansoprazole), Protonix (pantoprazole). Proton pump inhibitors work exactly as the name implies, which inhibits proton pumps in the stomach to produce acid. These products are very effective at the level of acid in the stomach and reduce symptoms of GERD, reflux and ulcers.These products are relatively safe that does not require additional blood tests and have less side effects in most people.

But one of the long-term effect of reducing the acidity of the stomach, on a permanent basis is your body is not capable of) the amount of vitamin B 12 (cobalamin, is necessary, and your body to absorb the supply of this essential nutrient depleted. From the B-12 deficiency has been estimated at somewhere between 5-20% of beingPopulation by adding a drug that effectively reduces the body to absorb vitamin B -12 can have a significant impact on a population that are already at high risk. Other things that patients at risk of vitamin B is -12 elderly, alcoholics, patients with dementia, patients who have had bowel resection, and AIDS patients.

An indicator often by doctors to determine vitamin B -12, homocysteine in the bloodLevels.

If you are one of these over the counter or prescriptions products it is important that you be aware of this potential side effect of nutrition that could also affect your health. One way to avoid potential shortages to make sure you take a supplement.

[Via http://vitaminbbenefit.wordpress.com]

Metro 2033 arriving in March News | Eurogamer

"I ate your soul" by Grieves, remixed lyrics by Detelj

2010-01-29T02:28:00.000+02:00

When the time comes, I’ll open that door/ So you can safely walk in and drop to the floor/ It’s disgusting/ what lies on the inside; too many problems and a heart that lies/I’m cold/with nothing to give/ matured with the mentality of a seven year old kid/ love it/ with nothing to offer you should want to know me for the feelings I’ll alter/I’m gunna change you/ on the inside and out/ play with your emotions and make you shout, make you cry/ make you touch base with all that you know, limit you, ’cause I won’t let you go

And when you try to dry your eyes I’ll be there to help tears slide down the cheeks I once called mine and watch you…

Listen/ I put a note on the stairs/ so when you get home/ I won’t be there/ I hit the streets/ I’m not coming back. IF you’re lucky I’ll get stuck in the cracks/swallowed whole/It’s ugly/ the scene in which we live in/ugliest when I’m not givin/love/the love you deserve but rather the driest taste of dirt/ You need to sit there/ on the bench, on the sidelines/ watch as my selfishness begins to climbs high/ and observe/ why I don’t love me/ why I’m considered ugliest of ugly

If you listen to these words I will keep you from the hurt and help you to find yourself…

[Via http://mdetelj.wordpress.com]

Bookninja » Blog Archive » News rinds

Health Care And The Medical Industrial Complex

2010-01-27T18:50:00.000+02:00

What is the first thing you do when visiting a Doctor for a checkup? Do you explain to the front desk that you have a cold and would like to see the Doctor? How do they react when you tell them you have a cold? Do they act like they don’t care? You don’t even get to explain that you have a cold because they stick a bunch of papers in your face! Why all the paper work instead of asking you how you are feeling?

Our medical system is the best in the world. Only the Republican Party believes that myth. America and Mississippi has the worst medical system in the world! How could I make that statement? How do you know we have a poor health care system? Because the health care system doesn’t care about patients and only cares about money!

We don’t get to explain that we are sick because we are forced to fill out paperwork about our insurance or lack of insurance. This shows that our medical clinics are more interested in knowing how much money we have and less about how we feel. What should occur when you walk in the door? They should ask you how you are feeling and then assure you that you will be taken care of. Not stick their hands in your pocket searching for your insurance card or what little money you have!

We can debate if paperwork is caused by the clinic or the insurance companies. I don’t like either. Doctors charge to much and the insurance companies are an unnecessary evil in our economy. We shouldn’t even have insurance. Doctors should charge a fair price and not charge us to death. Putting the insurance company out of business and then encouraging competition in the health care system will bring down prices but that is only the first step to solving our health care problems.

America’s health care system is set up to keep you sick. Whey do they want to keep you sick? Because they want to make money off your illness. You ever noticed that our health care system and the corrupt drug companies and food industry are working together to make sure we live an unhealthy lifestyle? You ever noticed how skinny our ancestors were and now the majority of our people are obese? That has everything to do with the ingredients in our food supply. These ingredients are defended by our health care system because they want to keep your business.

Our health care system is not about prevention of illness but treatment of illness in later stages of development. They don’t want you eating healthy and they don’t want you breathing clean air or drinking clean water. You ever noticed how our air is more polluted than ever? You ever notice that our government puts sodium fluoride in our drinking water? You ever notice how or government encourages the intake of more and more sugar and now even high fructose corn syrup? These are all promoted to keep you sick and to keep you coming back to those medical clinics!

America is currently debating a Health Care Reform Bill. It has been passed in the US House Of Representatives and is now being debated by the US Senate. Nobody supports the Obama Health Care Plan because it is a bailout for the medical industrial complex. Yes I said the medical industrial complex. We don’t have a health care system that cares for people. We have a Medical Industrial Complex that wants to keep you unhealthy to keep making money off your illness. President Obama doesn’t want health care reform. He is just protecting the Medical Industrial Complex!

We have two sides on the health care debate. Democrats want a Socialist Health Care System similar to Great Britain. Republicans want to keep a Corporatist Health Care System. They claim to be on opposite sides but they both agree. A socialist health care system will be no different than the current corporate health care system. Both of them will continue to be run by the rich in the medical industrial complex. They are two sides of the same counterfeit coin! We need a return to clean medicine!

We don’t need to waste our time on Corporatism and Socialism. We need to focus on exposing those who run the medical industrial complex. We should fight to eliminate all insurance companies and use competition in the market and common sense price controls from the government to lower the cost of health care. We need to eliminate big business in the health care system and encourage family clinics that will put the patient before the money. We need to encourage competition in medicine and reject the corrupt pharmaceutical industry and support natural medicine. We need to say to hell with treatment and start focusing on prevention. We need to work to clean up our air, food, medicine, and water and have a clean environment that will help to keep us healthy instead of work to keep us sick. We need to contact our elected officials and tell them to stop taking money from medical lobbyists and start think about the common citizen. Tell them to eliminate insurance companies and fight for competition in the marketplace to bring down cost.

We don’t need to fix health insurance. We need to eliminate it and save the middle class. We The People should pay less for health care. Doctors and Medical Clinics need to put their ethics first and their pocket books last! Stand for real health care reform and fight to live a healthy life and work to clean up our environment!

[Via http://southpopulist.wordpress.com]

Oliver Willis: The Liberal Blogosphere Goes Fox News

The Poetry of Breathing and Wellness

2010-01-27T02:44:00.000+02:00

What’s to say when you’ve said it all,

Told the story to end the fall,

Each event is it blessed or passing thru

The choice left to me and you.

I’ve said it all, about how to BE,

The question asked most often of me.

Breathe and intend, judgments suspend,

Make it easy, no tale to spin,

No big happening, only breathe and be

Wrote books saying it, totaling three

What would love do at this point in time?

Call upon the connection Divine,

The answer lies inside the heart,

Then you breathe so you feel that part,

And to recharge, reenergize and renew,

Allowing fresh perspective to come into view,

Relaxes and harmonizes all cells as One,

Confers immunity from Life’s humdrum,

Tension and plaguing bacterial surround,

An oasis inside where health is found,

Forget the history, the drama untold,

Simply start breathing let the joy unfold.

Yes, it’s an exercise you’ll continue to do,

If you want the best available you.

Breathe at your pace and fully engage,

Maybe you find the Inner Sage,

The part that you were intended to play,

It could happen, even today.

If fully oxygenated your mindbody would be.

The thing you need for you to see

How to proceed and what to do,

To engage the most loveable you

Become the Inner Work at your pace

Expand fully the loving space.

Keep Breathing!

[Via http://energizeyounow.wordpress.com]

Panasonic introduces DMC-ZS5 / TZ8 compact superzoom: Digital ...

Poor medical treatment is unhealthy

2010-01-25T10:48:00.000+02:00

… and a study has now shown that this is a key reason for some of the health problems faced by those* who are “overweight”. The article discusses a huge range or problems, including:

-Attribution bias, in which doctors assume that the weight is responsible for other problems and thus misdiagnose.

-Doctors refusing to perform procedures which are more difficult due to the weight.

-Lack of equipment properly sized to deal with heavier patients.

-Shaming tactics, like a woman with a torn ligament, whose surgeon refused to operate until she “stopped eating fast food” (which she didn’t actually even eat).

*Sometimes the article is couched in general terms, other times it focuses on women.

[Via http://feministphilosophers.wordpress.com]

Robert Gibbs Returns To Fox News, Calls Bin Laden A “Cowardly ...

Child Support Or A Communist Program?

2010-01-25T02:45:00.000+02:00

Here is something you might want to check out. I was browsing the internet looking for information on the Department Of Human Services. Why am I doing research on the Department Of Human Services? Because I am bored and wanted to find out the best department to eliminate when I become Governor of Mississippi!

I found this very interesting flyer on their website. It is a 10 most wanted list of men who haven’t payed child support. Note that I am single, never been married, and don’t have any children. But I can’t stand the sight of a man being forced to pay child support to a women who doesn’t care enough about family values to stick together. Here is a little quote from the top of this flyer on these “evil” men who don’t pay child support.

“When these noncustodial parents don’t support their children, taxpayers get the bill for their financial and medical support.”

Here is what comes to mind. Why in the hell does it have to be the man or the taxpayers who have take care of children. If a women has custody of the children, then shouldn’t she have the personal responsibility to feed them? It isn’t the place of a man or the government to take care of anyone. The government needs to get the hell out of the child business and do what it does best. Nothing!

Lets contact our elected officials and encourage them to cut another stupid government program. Eliminate the Department of Human Services and cut taxes on the working man. You know they wont oppose communism because of their new world order. I look forward to standing with my friends in the State Legislature and voting to eliminate the DHS and other unconstitutional programs!

[Via http://southpopulist.wordpress.com]

iClarified - Apple News - Photoshop Mobile for iPhone Adds Video ...

FDA reopens exam of BPA in food packaging

2010-01-20T18:45:00.000+02:00

The controversy over BPA has again arisen. It appears that the FDA will now reopen investigations of BPA effects and impact on health. Concerns about BPA have been raised since the 1930’s (the first reported synthesis of the substance was in 1905 by Thomas Zincke of the University of Marburg, German). Zincke reported key physical properties of BPA (e.g., molecular composition, melting point, solubility in common solvents) but did not propose any application or use for BPA or the other materials he synthesized. In 1953, Dr. Hermann Schnell of Bayer in Germany and Dr. Dan Fox of General Electric in the United States independently developed manufacturing processes for a new plastic material, polycarbonate, using BPA as the starting material.

BPA has been widely used in plastics and the coatings of metal cans for decades since that time. It has many favorable properties, but over time, it can leach out of the plastic. Studies have shown that BPA can find it’s way into the human body. Numerous studies have indicated little evidence of definitive health risks from BPA. On the other hand, a number of research studies have raised concerns about the effects of BPA on the liver, endocrine system, as well as in the effect of hormones an breast, prostate and other tissues. The use BPA has been banned in Canada in all infant and baby bottles and sippie cups. Many manufacturers in the US have voluntary moved to BPA free plastic products for infants and children. This new FDA attention should be welcome as long as it properly assesses the risks and benefits from the use of BPA in commercial applications. It would wrong to leave a potential harmful product on the market simply because it has been in use for many years. However, it would be equally wrong to pull a very versatile and useful product based on limited data and unfounded fears. Let’s hope the FDA will review all aspects of the BPA issue fairly come to an informed opinion on the correct role of BPA in the food marketing system . . . ben kazie md and obi jo

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2602705/bpa_health_risks_to_be_examined.html?cat=5

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is concerned about possible health risks from bisphenol-A (BPA) a widely used component of plastic bottles and food packaging that it declared safe in 2008. The agency said Friday that it had “some concern about the potential effects of BPA on the brain, behavior and prostate gland of fetuses, infants and children,” and would join other federal health agencies in studying the chemical in both animals and humans.

BPA is a chemical building block that is used primarily to make polycarbonate plastic and epoxy resins (these line the inside of most food and beverage cans). Over four decades of extensive safety research on BPA shows that consumer products made with BPA are safe for their intended uses and pose no known risks to human health. Polycarbonate plastic is a lightweight, high-performance plastic that possesses a unique balance of toughness, optical clarity, high heat resistance and excellent electrical resistance. Because of these attributes, polycarbonate is used in a wide variety of common products including digital media (e.g., CDs, DVDs), electrical and electronic equipment, automobiles, sports safety equipment, reusable food and drink containers, and many other products. Epoxy resins have many uses including engineering applications such as electrical laminates for printed circuit boards, composites, paints and adhesives, as well as in a variety of protective coatings. Cured epoxy resins are inert materials used as protective liners in metal cans to maintain the quality of canned foods and beverages, and have achieved wide acceptance for use as protective coatings because of their exceptional combination of toughness, adhesion, formability, and chemical resistance. Polycarbonate looks and feels like glass but is light and difficult to break. The plastics and coatings made with BPA have many attractive properties and, among other things, are particularly good at not absorbing flavors or changing the flavor of items stored in them. Over time, the chemical can leach into the contents of a plastic container, particularly one that is used in a microwave oven or cleaned in a dishwasher.

BPA’s potential to disrupt the hormonal system, however, has made its use in plastics for food purposes controversial. Some animal studies have found that BPA apparently accelerates puberty and poses a cancer risk, and, while the issue’s focus has been on the safety of children, the chemical has also been tied to an increased risk of heart disease and diabetes in adults. In a draft risk assessment in 2008 the FDA said that at levels found in products on the American market, it appeared to be safe. Suspected of being hazardous to humans since the 1930s, concerns about the use of bisphenol A in consumer products were regularly reported in the news media in 2008 after several governments issued reports questioning its safety, and some retailers have removed products made of it from their shelves. The chemical can leach into food, and a study of more than 2,000 people found that more than 90 percent of them had BPA in their urine. Traces have also been found in breast milk, the blood of pregnant women and umbilical cord blood.

Bisphenol-A (BPA) – http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/b/bisphenol_a/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier

F.D.A. Concerned About Substance in Food Packaging – http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/16/health/16plastic.html?th&emc=th

Bisphenol-A (BPA) – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bisphenol_A

About Bisphenol A – http://www.bisphenol-a.org/about/index.html

Discovery and Use of BPA – http://www.bisphenol-a.org/pdf/DiscoveryandUseOctober2002.pdf

Zincke, T., 1905, “Mittheilungen aus dem chemischen Laboratorium der Universitat Marburg,” Justus Leibigs Annals Chemie, vol. 343, pages 75-99

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[Via http://benkazie.wordpress.com]

Early 'Scott Pilgrim' Test Screening Brings Good News - Cinematical

Reduce But DON'T Reuse

2010-01-20T02:38:00.000+02:00

The reuse of syringes has become a global problem that kills over 1.3 million each year. Infection rates spread rapidly in developing countries without proper access to health care. This happens in hospitals, on the streets, and behind closed doors. A simple solution: a low cost syringe that cannot be used twice. Bravo Marc Koska! The K1 syringe is a disposable non-reusable solution in reducing blood borne infections. With the force of NGO SafePoint they are currently targeting India, followed by Africa. ~$1.50 purchases 31 safe syringes = safe injections.

By Keyana Azari

[Via http://keyana.wordpress.com]

App news & reviews: Trapster, Observation, Foto Brisko and more

NEW RESEARCH OFFERS HOPE TO ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE

2010-01-18T17:57:00.000+02:00

here is no cure for Alzheimer’s, the insidious fatal disease which slowly kills all your brain cells. Already the seventh leading cause of death in the US, it is soon to reach epidemic levels as the boomers becomes senior citizens. There are more than 30 million people with dementia worldwide, but by 2050, this figure will increase to over 100 million. Two sets of findings released in the last few days bring hope that the accelerating research effort will find better ways to treat the disease, delay its onset, or prevent it from developing. Most significantly, a simple and inexpensive eye test could aid detection and diagnosis of Alzheimer’s at an earlier stage than is currently possible and a “cocktail” of commonly available supplements has shown promise in improving memory and fighting Alzheimer’s. Alzheimer’s disease was named after German physician Alois Alzheimer, who first described it in 1906. In the subsequent century, we’ve learned a lot about Alzheimer’s but with the ageing of the global population, it is about to become an epidemic. Currently there are more than 30 million people with dementia worldwide. By 2050, this figure will increase to over 100 million. Alzheimer’s is the most common form of dementia, accounting for 50 to 70 percent of dementia cases. It destroys brain cells, causing memory loss and problems with thinking and behavior severe enough to affect work, lifelong hobbies and social life. Alzheimer’s gets worse over time, and keeps destroying brain cells until there are none left. Accordingly, it is inevitably fatal with a mean life expectancy following diagnosis of approximately seven years. Today it is the seventh-leading cause of death in the United States. The most novel concept to come out of the three sets of research published in the last week is from University College London, where researchers have demonstrated a new technique that enables retinal, and therefore brain cell death, to be directly measured in real time. Few people realize that the retina is a direct, albeit thin, extension of the brain. It is entirely possible that in the future a visit to a high-street optician to check on your eyesight will also be a check on the state of your brain.“The death of nerve cells is the key event in all neurodegenerative disorders – but until now it has not been possible to study cell death in real time”, said Professor Cordeiro, of the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology.“This technique means we should be able to directly observe retinal nerve cell death in patients, which has a number of advantages in terms of effective diagnosis. This could be critically important since identification of the early stages could lead to successful reversal of the disease progression with treatment. Currently, the biggest obstacle to research into new treatments for neurodegenerative diseases is the lack of a technique where the brain’s response to new treatments can be directly assessed – this technique could potentially help overcome that.” The technique uses fluorescent markers that attach themselves to the relevant cells and indicate the stage of cell death. The retina is then observed using a customised laser ophthalmoscope. Until now, this kind of technique has only been used in cells in the lab, rather than in live animals. This research is therefore the first ever in vivo demonstration of retinal nerve cell death in Alzheimer’s Disease. The method, demonstrated in an animal model, could not only refine diagnosis of neurodegenerative disorders and help track disease progress; it could also aid the assessment and development of new treatments. Although this paper outlines the technique in animal models (rats and mice), Professor Cordeiro’s team are further along with work using the same technique to detect and assess glaucoma, and will be conducting their first patient trials later this year. Professor Cordeiro added, “The equipment used for this research was customised to suit animal models but is essentially the same as is used in hospitals and clinics worldwide. It is also inexpensive and non-invasive, which makes us fairly confident that we can progress quickly to its use in patients. The research was published in the journal Cell Death & Disease. Research published in the journal Alzheimer’s and Dementia shows that a combination of nutrients developed at MIT has shown the potential to improve memory in Alzheimer’s patients by stimulating growth of new brain connections. Richard Wurtman, the Cecil H. Green Distinguished Professor of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, did the basic research that led to the new experimental treatment. In a clinical trial of 225 Alzheimer’s patients, researchers found that a cocktail of three naturally occurring nutrients believed to promote growth of those connections, known as synapses, plus other ingredients (B vitamins, phospholipids and antioxidants), improved verbal memory in patients with mild Alzheimer’s. “If you can increase the number of synapses by enhancing their production, you might to some extent avoid that loss of cognitive ability,” says Wurtman. There is currently no cure for Alzheimer’s disease, though some medications can slow the progression of the disease. In particular, many U.S. patients take cholinesterase inhibitors, which increase levels of acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter important for learning and memory. While those treatments target the symptoms of Alzheimer’s, Wurtman hopes to attack what he believes is the root cause of the disease: loss of synapses. The three nutrients in his dietary cocktail — uridine, choline and the omega-3 fatty acid DHA (all normally present in breast milk) — are precursors to the fatty molecules that make up brain cell membranes, which form synapses. In animal studies, Wurtman has shown that these nutrients boost the number of dendritic spines (small outcroppings of neural membranes). When those spines contact another neuron, a synapse is formed. Three additional clinical studies in Alzheimer’s patients are now underway, one in the United States and two in Europe. Results are expected to be available between 2011 and 2013. The first clinical study was sponsored by the French company Danone, known in the United States as Dannon; the study was conducted primarily in Europe and was led by Philip Scheltens, director of the Alzheimer Center at Vrije Universiteit Medical Center in Amsterdam. Wurtman and MIT have patented the mixture of nutrients used in the study, and Nutricia Advanced Medical Nutrition, a unit of Danone, holds the exclusive license on the patent. Patients with mild Alzheimer’s drank the cocktail (made in the form of a nutrient drink called Souvenaid, with the collaboration of Danone) or a control beverage daily for 12 weeks. Patients who received the nutrients showed a statistically significant level of improvement compared to control subjects: 40 percent of the treated patients improved performance in a test of verbal memory (memory for words, as opposed to memory of locations or experiences) known as the Wechsler Memory Scale, while 24 percent of patients who received the control drink improved their performance. Among those who received the cocktail, patients with the mildest cases of Alzheimer’s showed the most improvement. The drink appeared to have no effect on patients’ performance in another commonly used evaluation for Alzheimer’s patients, the ADAS-cog test. Wurtman believes that is because ADAS-cog is a more general assessment that tests for orientation and movement/spatial memory as well as cognition. So in subjects with early Alzheimer’s who show principally cognitive changes, more than the 225 subjects in the first study will probably be required to yield significant ADAS-cog changes after Souvenaid. The 500 subjects in the ongoing study in the United States may be sufficient. John Growdon, a neurologist at Massachusetts General Hospital, says that trying to regrow synapses is an innovative strategy and offers a complementary approach to two other lines of attack in treating Alzheimer’s: targeting the amyloid plaques that accumulate in patients’ brains, and minimizing the damage done by toxic metabolites that build up in Alzheimer’s-affected brains. “I don’t think any one approach has a monopoly, and that’s good,” Growdon says. “You need to have a lot of different approaches because no one knows what’s going to work.” Wurtman believes his approach to Alzheimer’s may eventually prove beneficial in treating other diseases. If these nutrients prove to be successful in Alzheimer’s patients, “then you can think about other diseases in which there are too few synapses,” such as Parkinson’s disease, he says. “There are a lot of diseases associated with synapse deficiency.” London writer Herman Goodden captures the fiendish nature of Alzheimer’s disease most eloquently in his article entitled “No place like home for victims of Alzheimer’s.” Writes Goodden, Alzheimer’s “doesn’t relent once it’s taken away 50 or 80 or 90% of your brain function and then lets you get on with what’s left. Sooner or later it will erase not just every memory and thought but also the workings of every last neuron and synapse.

[Via http://5magazine.wordpress.com]

Food Processors | Computer Technology News

Essential Oils ~ One way to begin

2010-01-15T18:39:00.000+02:00

Essential Oils~One Way to Begin

Essential Oils are powerful aides to us. They are part of the foundation of Aromatherapy and I am fully entrenched in researching and experimenting with them on a daily basis! Essential Oils are the aromatic constituents of plants extracted through processes of distillation. Through this process a plant’s medicinal properties are harnessed as well. Good quality Essential Oils will always give off notes of the Earth and a grassy or woody quality, not just the basic scent or flavor you might be used to. They stimulate our senses and reach deeply into our Bodies to invigorate or sooth everything from our nervous systems to our bile flow. Yeah, I wrote bile flow.

So…a lot of people ask me, “Which one’s should I get?” A casual question with an infinite number of answers…

It all depends on what you want to achieve, what do you love to smell?, what are you attracted to?…I have begun my answer so many ways and each person is so different in what they want to achieve in using oils that I had to come up with a simple way to get people started without sounding like a reference book.

So! Here is a simple way to begin a journey into this incredibly rich and textural world.

Begin with 4 oils:

A Flower ~ Always sensual, flower essences stir up our feelings enjoyment, connectedness and any heaviness we feel usually turns into gratitude that our lives are so complex. Consider Rose, Lavender, Jasmine or Calendula.

A Tree ~ These will help you feel rooted and above it all at the same time; incredibly helpful if you are stressed, especially if you are going to be dealing with a lot of people at once such as throwing an event or teaching. Consider Eucalyptus, Fir, Camphor, Cypress or Spruce.

An Herb ~ A category too varied to sum up! However I will venture that they all bring a sense focus and remembering your intentions. Consider Basil, Cilantro, Clary Sage, Fennel, Rosemary, Tarragon or Thyme.

A Citrus ~ Mood brighteners! Who can’t use that? Consider Lemon, Lime, Grapefruit or Tangerine.

My starter set would be:

Lavender

Cypress

Fennel

Tangerine

A standard starting group could be:

Lavender – A gentle mood regulator and anti-inflammatory.

Eucalyptus – Opens up our breathing, allowing for more oxygen in our blood, which creates more energy and allows toxins to release.

Rosemary – A fantastic immune system supporter.

Lemon – Helps stimulate our minds and fights infections.

Each oil contains the lives of many pounds of plants and it is best to hold them a few inches from your nose to be able to inhale with clarity. Try opening a bottle of Peppermint right under your nose and you will see what I mean. Play around with what has always smelled enticing to you and begin to read about the properties of those oils. I will add a post of great books and articles!

Lastly, I am a dedicated Smeller. What does that mean? It means I inhale for love of smell and information. If I take a deep enough breath I can get beyond the high notes and into the low notes and the ping-pong-y pop-up notes. If you have ever ended up with a glob of shampoo on your nose at the store because you were trying to see if you like the smell….You are probably a dedicated Smeller. Wow, that’s as close as I’ll get to Jeff Foxworthy. You know you are a red-neck dedicated Smeller if you have ended up with a slice of American cheese up your nose trying to find anything real in it.

[Via http://kaleidoscopespirit.wordpress.com]

Technology News: Internet: Is China Sweating Over Google's Threat?

Cell phones don't cause brain cancer/Sea Slug is half plant, half animal

2010-01-13T18:45:00.000+02:00

In the past 10 years or so, I’ve become more and more of a skeptic. Especially in the last 5 or so years, the American public has become increasingly susceptible to scaremongering and inflated fears about health issues, doomsday nonsense, and other junk science that has no basis in reality. The myth about cell phone radiation causing brain cancer is one example of this. The flat truth is that there had been no proven link between cell phone use and brain cancer. In fact, according to Christopher Wanjek’s column on LiveScience there has been no significant increase in brain cancer that correlates in any way with the increase of cell phone usage. We all know how much cell phone usage has risen in the last 2 decades… if they cause brain cancer, why the hell hasn’t there been a corresponding increase in the disease? Because there’s no connection. That being said, this article on NewScientist is one of many covering research into the effects of cell phone radiation on the brain, and in fact it does affect brain tissue, and there have been some hints that extremely prolonged exposure could cause some degree of tissue damage, but tissue damage is not the same thing as brain cancer. Furthermore, another recent study actually showed that cell phone radiation reversed the effects of Alzheimer’s disease in mice! (And if you look at the bottom of that article, you’ll see that the study wasn’t funded by any cell phone companies…) We might even soon be seeing cell phone radiation used as a treatment for the disease. So, the jury may still be out on whether it causes tissue damage or has therapeutic effects on memory, but with as many studies as have been done on the link between the radiation and brain cancer, it’s pretty obvious that cell phones don’t cause brain cancer. Unfortunately some companies have tried to capitalize on the scaremongering by marketing products that are supposed to “protect” you brain from the radiation. These don’t work, and several have been shut down by the FTC.

Now that I’m off my skeptic soapbox, something actually interesting:

Biologists have discovered a species of sea slug that is the first know organism to be able to produce chlorophyll. This creature actually has aspects of both plants and animals, and thus sounds like something straight out of a sci-fi movie. But it’s real. Scientists have determined that it somehow “borrowed” the plant genes that allow chlorophyll production from the algae that it consumes. Exactly how it did that in it’s evolutionary path is still a mystery. It still can’t produce the actual chloroplasts (the cells that are responsible for the conversion of sunlight into energy) without consuming algae, but it apparently can produce chlorophyll entirely on its own.

And just for kicks: How the main LOST characters would each make a peanut butter & jelly sandwich. (Via Yewknee’d)

[Via http://stevelovesmusicscience.wordpress.com]

Sarah Palin Debut On FOX News 'The O'Reilly Factor' (VIDEOS ...

7.0-magnitude Earthquake hits Haiti

2010-01-13T02:01:00.000+02:00

photo excerpt from yahoo news images

Strong earthquake smashed a portion of Haiti, causing extensive damages including the presidential palace, cathedrals, buildings and various communication facilities. Further details are still to be confirmed as per reports of widespread casualties. There were reports that the ground shook for more than a minute, and was followed by three aftershocks measuring 5.9, 5.5 and 5.1 on the moment magnitude scale hit. Image shows the location of the quake.

Besides being a poort nation, Haiti has been recently devasted by a series natural and man made: Four big storms, Tense political standoff, etc. Seventy percent of Haiti’s population lives on less than two dollars per day and half of its 8.5 million people are unemployed.

[Via http://fyi09.wordpress.com]

Sarah Palin To Join Fox News, Moving Her Even Further From White ...

The Best Kind of Love

2010-01-11T18:41:00.000+02:00

I thought I already knew the meaning of love until I was told of this unique, yet unparalled love story.

The year was 1992 in the town of Cavite, Philppines. The place is near the sea, so you can immagine that most of the jobs there are either fishing or factory work.

One ordinary day, a certain factory worker got illed and could no longer report for work due to his health condition. He was already bed ridden. Let me call him Freddie (not the real name). He can be compared to a paralitic as he could no longer stand. His illness was hernia. But due to lack of finances and medical attention, it got worse due to complications. He just lies on his bed day by day. Worst, his wife and family abandoned him as they could not bear his condition. Previouly, people around him care to serve him but began to vanish one by one as times go by. He was left alone in a garage like dog. But at least, someone bring him food on a daily basis. I was told that I won’t believe how pittyful his condition was. On the same bed he lays is his waste and urine flow and it accumulated already. His clothes and undergarments were unreplaced in months. Surely, you can’t breath normally if you where there, as told. His condition was too bad and his condition was worst than a shackeled animal.

In that same period of time, my brother visits the location for a Christian mission work on a weekly basis. Freddie’s condition caught the attention of a certain young man in the factory (my apology, I can no longer recall the name of that young man but he attends where my brother serve as his two friends). The two were more known as Marcing and Boy. Marcing was the one who told me the story.

The three did not waste time; they immediately went to Freddie’s place to at least share Jesus. Actually, they were neither Pastors nor a church worker. They were only ordinary attendees then who were burdened of their duty to share Jesus to less fortunate. Upon entering the area where Freddie is, all of them almost vomit but they controlled their stomach in respect to Freddie’s condition. As described, it was the most gruesome scenario they’ve been through as told. Undescribeable, as they said. Before they could start to speak, Freddie uttered curses and the worst bad mouth anyone can say. He was too angry with his family, himself, to the world and to God. But later, he let them share the Bible. Nonetheless, no expression of acceptance whatsoever was seen. Afterwards, they left and each went on to their different homes. No one speak a word till they separated, as per Marcing’s recollection. But the next day, they meet again. Each tells the same heavy burden within their heart that they could not bear. They all agreed that preaching was not enough. Later they just decided to go back.

Freddie was surprised to saw the three young men returned with cleaning tools and alcohol. The three ask his permission to clean him and his place without strings attached. Upon his ok for approcal, one sweep the floor with broom and map. Another fixed the things and cleaned the dust. Marcing decided to fix Freddie and his bed. Marcing said that Freddie’s garments were too dirty and his body emits undescribable bad odor. He undressed Freddie for a while to clean him from head to toes. Marcing could not believe what he saw. Freddie was too thin as if he is already a skeleton. Nonetheless, he controlled himself for Freddie. Marcing also said that Freddie’s whole body was so dirty; he saw the dried human waste under Freddie’s but flowing to his legs with traces of urine. Marcing himself could not believe what he did. Nonetheless, he humbly admits that they are doing it for God. Later he changed Freddie’s clothes and combs his hair. Freddie began to smile as they uttered jokes how handsome Freddie that day. Later they temporarily moved Freddie on a chair to clean and fix his bed. Each of them continued doing what should be done. One replaced the curtain. The other burned the garbage. Marcing washed the dirty plates, glass and utensils. He even called Freddie’s attention while cleaning the stained drinking glass. Freddy uttered, “No, I don’t drink through it but urinate.” To his shock, Marcing said that he almost drop the glass. He thanks God that he did not. Marcing humbly admitted that they could not do it without God, as no one can.

Before they left, tears began to drop on Fredie’s eyes. Marcing calls it, “tears of joy!” No more curses and bad mouth words were heard since they returned. Freddie thanks them and told them that they have done something no religious visitor or any of his family members have done. Because of their action, Freddie accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior although no sermon or preaching has been spoken. No religion was discussed either. As I said earlier, the three young men were only rdinary young people and they were just on their early 20s then.

Minutes passed and they said good bye. Upon leaving the area, it was only then they noticed that there were people watching them all they long. Marcing said that although they differ in status and religion, you will see in the eyes of the people their respect and amazement.

Three days later, their companion Boy had a dream that Freddie died already. It was confirmed so they visited. Marcing remembers that they saw the people who are there especially the wife and family members could not stare at them in shame. They could not believe they were that known and respected. Although no clapping was done, the warm appreciations in the eyes people were obvious. And though no preaching was made, the people believed because “kind action” and “sacrificial demonstration” speaks louder than any religious teaching. Truly, in many cases God is glorified and is made known because someone demonstrates his faith in sincere action, personal testimony and simple act of kindness. This I believed is the best kind of love.

Note: Marcing is now Pastor Marcing Prim. His wife’s name is Carmen they have one son. He moved to another area but still within Cavite Philippines. He is currently pastoring a Church there affiliated to In Christ We Live Family Christian Center, where most of the attendees were poor fisher folks and farmers. If anyone wishes to contact him, you may request of his contact details to my e-mail: denissalvatierra@yahoo.com

[Via http://fyi09.wordpress.com]

Shure shows SE425 and SE535 earphones | iLounge News

IRS To Enforce Obamacare Taxes

2010-01-11T02:42:00.000+02:00

Socialized Health Care Can STILL Be Stopped! Send your faxes, people.

via IRS To Enforce Obamacare Taxes.

Related insanity

Obamacare Gives Irs Broad New Powers (healthcarebs.com)
IRS Raises the Bar for Tax Preparers (dailyfinance.com)

[Via http://therightofthepeople.wordpress.com]

Weekly International Travel News Roundup | Peter Greenberg Worldwide

Being a Woman, Leper and a Brahmin

2010-01-08T18:42:00.000+02:00

Apologies: To all the pundits on ethics of confidentiality. This post might not be acceptable to the people that I have written about. Insistently, I write this. Consider the fact that no bad news is acceptable to the ones who make that news, be it rapists or racists. This story is real. Read it if you want to or chuck it if you don’t care. Stories that must to be told should be told.

Note: I respect confidentiality. I am a doctor, not a journalist or policeman. Therefore there is no need for me to tell the real names. The name I have used is fictitious. Also, the persons in the story are aware of my feelings towards their attitude. I hope to understand them and change their attitude for the better in my future interactions. I continue to treat this family.

Post: Being a Woman, Leper and a Brahmin

Her name is Madhusmitha Panda. She is about 50 years old. She is unmarried. Of course, who would marry her, for she had Leprosy. She had the stigmata of having had leprosy. She walked with a limp. Her toes were shrunk and her foot was deformed.

Her father retired from Government Service and receives a pension. He is about 80 years now. He is hard of hearing, but quite independent. Her mother was in her 70s and she had uncontrolled diabetes. She had no other siblings. She had few cousins, who were all married and well settled economically. The women who were married to her cousins do not take good care of them. So the three live independently in a small house. They have no other social supports.

She was an old patient of our institution. She had received MDT (multidrug therapy) and was cured of Leprosy few years ago. Our nurses have treated her of a foot ulcer a couple of months ago. She used to come on an out patient basis for dressing of the ulcer in her foot.It had healed well.

I saw her few weeks ago with a bad ulcer in her foot. Considering her situations, I felt that it would be difficult for her to come all the way from her home on a regular basis. Remember that travel costs money. I advised her to stay in Leprosy Home, a place where she could get free accommodation, food and ulcer care.Her father was not interested .He said that he would bring her regularly for dressings.

Madhusmitha came daily for dressings. Her father brought her everyday in an auto rickshaw. Over few days we realized that the ulcer is not getting better. At the same time she is developing changes in her sole indicating that there is possibility of new ulcer developing. This was because she was not giving adequate rest to her foot. Being the more able of the three, she had to do all the house hold work. Her dressings were not maintained as they had to be. We pressed them for an admission. It can be assumed that once a patient gets admitted, he/she could get some rest.

We also had asked her father to buy her MCR (Micro Cellular Rubber) footwear from the shoe maker in Leprosy Home. We told him of the costs etc.He wanted to find out, if it was available elsewhere. Even after a while, her foot did not improve. We realized he has not purchased the footwear for her. We felt irritated. He was not even willing to go to the Leprosy Home! We knew we could help her if she were admitted. When we insisted on admission, he blurted out, “How can I leave my daughter? What if someone does something?” . The nurses told me that he did not trust his own daughter. That is why he accompanied her everyday, even into the dressing room.

We had a word with her mother. We thought she could think more rationally. It made sense to admit her daughter to get treatment for free! She asked, “Do good people stay there?” I began to reason with her that most people living there are nice people. They too were suffering like her daughter. I also told her that there will be people to take care of her daughter. As I was explaining this, our nurse told me, “Sir, the meaning of her ‘good people’ is not nice people as you imagine. She refers to people of higher caste. She is a Brahmin. So, she does not want her daughter to live in a Home with lower caste people.”

I was shocked. I thought “What? Mother of a Leprosy patient was discriminating other oppressed people!!!”.Madhusmitha is not suffering with Leprosy problems alone. She was suffering for being a woman. She was suffering for being a Brahmin. Her parents think that they are being helpful and protective but they are the biggest stumbling blocks to her care. They being old cannot care for themselves. They want Madhusmitha to do all the household work. After all, she was born a woman. It is her responsibility to do the household chores. Adequate rest is therefore not possible. On the top of it, they deny her benefits of admission into a Home because of being Brahmins. Sadly again, because of associated stigma they do not want to go to the Home to buy MCR footwear.

I asked her mother, “Mousi, you said you have problems with wives of your nephews. Isn’t it?” She nodded with an expression anticipating sympathy. “Are they not Brahmins like you?” I asked. She agreed though her expression changed. I asked her, “Tell me who is better? The wives of your nephews, who being high caste Brahmins do not care for you or the tribal people and health workers in the Home, who would dress your daughter’s ulcers and take care of her, even in your absence?” There was a pause. She answered in a low tone, “Tribals”.I am glad that she could see the obvious truth.

Frankly, I felt that if that old couple die then Madhusmitha might get a better deal. Till then she would remain a Brahmin woman, who would do all the household chores, limping with ulcerated feet. She should have been born into a Tribe. She would have had a better deal.

I still cannot understand how they could discriminate against persons from tribal background when they themselves get discriminated for having leprosy. I wonder how they try to hide the identity of having had leprosy, but flaunt the identity of high caste origin.

[Via http://askdheeraj.wordpress.com]

CES e-book news roundup | TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home

Obama Defines, Defends Transparency

2010-01-08T10:01:00.000+02:00

By Scooter Van Neuter

WASHINGTON (SR) – President Barack Obama struck back at the mounting criticism that his administration’s secrecy violates his promise on at least eight separate occasions to televise all important legislative hearings.

“I promised the American people that my administration would be absolutely transparent, and it has been,” the President told reporters Thursday. “Transparent means to see through or be invisible, and our extensive coverage of every House and Senate hearing dealing with health care reform has been just that: totally invisible,” he said.

When asked by reporters when and where the coverage had been broadcast, the President said that “literally thousands of hours of coverage” had been, and is still being, broadcast on “a special invisible network” operated by MSNBC.

A spokesperson for MSNBC confirmed the network had been broadcasting both the House and Senate hearings on healthcare reform, but that the unprecedented transparency rendered them invisible to all but space aliens.

My comments: I have to say, this restores my faith in Barry’s honesty. Let’s have a margarita and hope space aliens abduct us and fill us in on the high points of this healthcare thing…

Read More Satire and Humorous Comments at Scooter’s Report

[Via http://papundits.wordpress.com]

Bandshell iPhone case packs integrated stand, more | iLounge News

First Health Warning of 2010: Antidepressants

2010-01-06T18:28:00.000+02:00

Well, it’s the beginning of a new year – a time when we take a closer look at ourselves try to figure out what we can do to make this year better than the last. But it’s also a time when many people are hit with seasonal affective disorder as we begin the decent from our holiday high.

It’s no surprise that antidepressants are among the most prescribed drugs in the United States. In fact, as we reported back in August, the number of Americans taking antidepressants has doubled in only a decade. Many Americans feel we are over-medicated, and according to a new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, there may be some truth to that sentiment.

It was a small study – but an important one – because what it showed was that common antidepressants may not be as effective for mild to moderate depression, and that these patients could benefit from alternative treatments like psychotherapy, counseling, talk therapy, etc. without the risks associated with these medications.

Interestingly enough, another new study out of the Archives of General Psychiatry found that about 60 percent of the time, psychiatrists are prescribing more than one drug at a time to their patients. Many mental disorders go hand-in-hand, so often patients can be afflicted with two or more, and may need a combination of drugs to help them cope with their symptoms. So there is evidence that for some patients, a combination of psychotropic drugs can be very beneficial, but it brings us back to the fact that the way we monitor those patients is key.

Internists and primary care physicians often prescribe these medications for their patients, but it’s vital that the patient receive therapy from a professional to evaluate progress and observe any negative side effects, because many of these drugs have serious risks. This is especially important for the adolescent population, because children are being put on these medications more and more.

But patients are not the only ones who need to be monitored — we have to be careful that the agenda to treat mental illness does not become big business driven by the pharmaceutical companies so that we don’t become a society dependent on pills!

[Via http://health.blogs.foxnews.com]

Dallas Cowboys Blog | Sports News | News for Dallas, Texas ...

Can't Win For Losing

2010-01-06T02:39:00.000+02:00

Speaking as someone who has done it, I can say with some degree of authority that quitting smoking completely sucks. You’re on edge all the time, you snack constantly, you have nothing to do in the morning before you use the bathroom, and perhaps most galling, you have to work through an entire day without a series of ten minute breaks. Like a Normal.

This is why no one ever quit smoking because they wanted to. Instead, the main reason people quit smoking is Fear of Chronic Disease. Which is a perfectly reasonable fear, mind you, and thus a perfectly rational reason to quit smoking.

Unless quitting smoking also makes you significantly more susceptible to a DIFFERENT chronic disease.

As it turns out, this is exactly the case. According to a Johns Hopkins study recently released in The Annals of Internal Medicine, breaking the habit can raise a person’s chances of developing Type II Diabetes by up to a staggering 70%. The heightened risk is tied to the aforementioned snacking and weight gain often associated with giving up smoking.

The researchers point out that this weight loss, and the diabetes risk tied to it, can be tempered by seeking help from a doctor while quitting. But at this point, we have to ask ourselves – do we really want to live in a world where everyone is short-tempered, on a diet and under the constant supervision of a doctor?

I think we call all agree that this is a scenario in which the living would envy the dead.

[Via http://ghcv.wordpress.com]

News From Across The Pond: Victoria Beckham Shows Her Caring Side ...

FDA Drug Safety for Pregnancy, Kaiser Eugenics

2010-01-04T18:18:00.000+02:00

Ring, ring. ” Hi, this is Kaiser Permanente, the largest managed care organization in the United States and we’re conducting a study. We were just wondering if those anti-depressant medications, antibiotics, and or cardiovascular medications you might have taken while you were pregnant gave your child birth defects or caused any perinatal problems?”

A new research program called the Medication Exposure in Pregnancy Risk Evaluation Program (MEPREP) will fund research to study the effects of prescription medications used during pregnancy. The program is a collaboration among the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and researchers at the HMO Research Network Center for Education and Research in Therapeutics (CERT), Kaiser Permanente’s multiple research centers and Vanderbilt University.

Collectively, the 11 participating sites have health care information for about 1 million births over the past seven years (2001-2007). Many of the mothers associated with these births likely used medication during their pregnancies and now, with the program in place, the FDA and participating researchers have a systematic and timely way of retrieving information from this network. http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm195934.htm

Did any pregnant mom systematically give permission to have their data used in this study? Was there “informed consent,” that prescription data could be used in future studies? We realize this is probably just an aggregate of data from various clinics, but everyone of those patients has a name and now are being used by a group of researchers to evaluate perscriptions drugs taken while pregnant. “In 2007, Kaiser it completed the four-year implementation of the Kaiser Permanenteprescriptions HealthConnect technology system, which standardizes technology across all locations.” http://www.wetfeet.com/Employers/Kaiser-Permanente.aspx What perfect timing!

Will the study look at race, age, and socio-economic factors as well? How much do you think they know about these women? About the children?

Smoking, drinking, and drug abuse are on the list as no no’s, but why is it the FDA now only taking action? Reading the small print on most medications, including the H1N1 Swine Flu vaccines patient inserts, “product may not be safe for use during pregnancy, benefits outweighing risks, etc.”

Why is it that the FDA is procuring this study as opposed to the pharmaceutical manufacturers themselves? Oh, that’s right- many are already released from any liability from injury -as is the case with the H1N1 vaccines. We have doubts that the outcome of this study will gain as much information as the government’s coordinated data effort which failed to reveal potential terrorists based on the events of 9-11, and as recently as on Christmas Day.

The stimulus package, officially the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, includes $8.2 billion in “extramural” NIH funding to help stimulate the U.S. economy by supporting scientific research. Kaiser Permanente has won more than $54 million in federal stimulus funding to conduct research on many public and clinical health areas, including $25 million for genetic research in Northern California. http://sanfrancisco.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/2009/10/12/daily1.html

Taking a conspiracy twist-

Financially influenced by Rockefeller’s leading petrochemical– pharmaceutical institutions, history shows these powerful “population planners” consistently working to manage global eugenics—the science of racial hygiene and “ethnic cleansing.” Desperately seeking ways to control “excess populations,” how do you suppose they might magically disappear half of us now targeted for elimination?

Before your imagination runs wild considering my view of “Vaccine Magic,” consider Kaiser’s history with the Rockefeller family cooperatively pioneering “managed care” in America along with the Kaiser Institute for Eugenics, Anthropology, and Human Heredity in pre-Nazi Germany. In essence, these contemporary powers spearheaded Hitler’s racial hygiene program, its genetic experiments for unnatural selection, and propaganda methods in advancing their “master race.” http://www.awakentothetruth.com/vaccine_magic_conspiracy.htm

“The Kaiser Wilhelm Institute of Anthropology, Human Heredity, and Eugenics was founded in 1927. The Rockefeller Foundation supported both the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute of Psychiatry and the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute of Anthropology, Human Heredity and Eugenics. The Rockefeller Foundation partially funded the actual building of the Institute and helped keep the Institute afloat during the Depression. In its early years, and during the Nazi era, it was strongly associated with theories of Nazi eugenics and racial hygiene advocated by its leading theorists Fritz Lenz and Eugen Fischer, and by its director Otmar von Verschuer. Under Fischer, the sterilisation of so-called Rhineland Bastards was undertaken. During World War II, the Institute regularly received human body parts, including eyes and skulls, from Dr. Josef Mengele at Auschwitz to use in studies intended to prove Nazi racial theories and justify race-related social polices. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaiser_Wilhelm_Institute_of_Anthropology,_Human_Heredity,_and_Eugenics

George Halvorson, the chief executive of one of the nation’s most respected health care systems, Kaiser Permanente, says he is hopeful that all the sausage-making in Washington will succeed in squeezing out a law….” lawmakers should support efforts to reward improvements in care for a handful of chronic conditions like asthma and heart failure, which affect millions of people and are some of the highest contributors to the nation’s health care bill. Tracking the care of those patients would be a good start, he said. “You don’t have to fix a lot of things.” http://prescriptions.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/22/kaiser-permanentes-chief-optimistic-about-health-overhaul-effort/

A handful of chronic conditions, eh? Is being pregnant considered chronic. Maybe for the Digger’s family! Oh wait, how do drug companies make money if a patient doesn’t take them? Could the underlying reason for this study really be linked back to The Kaiser Institute for Eugenics, Anthropology, and Human Heredity?

Could there be a link to other well known institutions? In 1904, the Carnegie Institution established a laboratory complex at Cold Spring Harbor on Long Island that stockpiled millions of index cards on ordinary Americans, as researchers carefully plotted the removal of families, bloodlines and whole peoples. Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/11/09/ING9C2QSKB1.DTL#ixzz0bfTKdKOR

Elluminati’s blog takes the conspiracy farther in thinking that Kaiser has a connection to the three pillars of masonic ritual. Pointing out the 3 pillars (sizes) of the Doctors, and the 3 dots of the Kaiser Permanente logo.

http://elluminati.blogspot.com/2009/01/kaiser-permanente-and-3-pillars-of.html

Heck, you can fold a $20 dollar bill to show the world trade center towers too, so you never know what symbology can get you if you try.

https://www.kaiserpermanente.org/ is Kaiser’s homepage.

http://www.certs.hhs.gov/ is the HMO Research Network Center for Education and Research in Therapeutics (CERT) and offers it’s data base of patients for sale. via http://info.ahrq.gov/cgi-bin/ahrq.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=90&p_created=1151339260&p_sid=GsErx9Rj&p_accessibility=0&p_redirect=&p_srch=1&p_lva=&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPTEmcF9zb3J0X2J5PSZwX2dyaWRzb3J0PSZwX3Jvd19jbnQ9MSwxJnBfcHJvZHM9JnBfY2F0cz0wJnBfcHY9JnBfY3Y9JnBfcGFnZT0xJnBfc2VhcmNoX3RleHQ9ZmluYW5jaW5n&p_li=&p_topview=1

HCUPnet is part of the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). HCUPnet generates statistics using data from HCUP’s Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS), the Kids’ Inpatient Database (KID), and the State Inpatient Databases (SID). These databases and HCUPnet would not be possible without the statewide data collection projects that provide data to HCUP. You can purchase many HCUP databases to do more detailed analysis not possible through HCUPnet. For more information on purchasing HCUP data go to the HCUP Central Distributor Web site at http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/tech_assist/centdist.jsp

From Vanderbilt, VUMC is known for its highly-acclaimed teaching hospital and its groundbreaking efforts in electronic medical records. Its 1,800 physicians see more than 1.2 million patients each year and its hospitals admit more than 65,000 patients via wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanderbilt_University_Medical_Center, VUMC’s home page can be found at http://www.mc.vanderbilt.edu/

You didn’t think your or your children’s patient data was really confidential did you? Have a baby, pay the bills, they collect the money and the data, get tax dollars to subsidize the data, and they can still sell your data.

Might as well just get an RFID chip now and get it over with.

Open wide, say ahhh and check out these posts on the A/H1N1 Swine Flu from Ahrcanum, where the conspiracy spreads as fast as the virus itself. Subscribe for free in the top right margin.

http://ahrcanum.wordpress.com/swine-flu-report/

[Via http://ahrcanum.wordpress.com]

Joe. My. God.: Fox News: If Tiger Woods Was A Christian, All This ...

Complaining with Kay, Episode 40: New Year's TMI Cast.

2010-01-01T17:18:00.000+02:00

I have finished the web re-design! In fact I re-designed it so thoroughly that I am posting this from there RIGHT NOW. (If you are reading this from kristinmh.com that will make *no* sense, but don’t worry, it doesn’t really matter.)

Anyway, here is the latest episode of Complaining with Kay:

Complaining with Kay, Episode 40

In this episode, I tell you more than you ever wanted to know about my weird neck scar, and talk about how much I would pay for healthcare if I lived in the US. (WAAAYYYY more than I pay in taxes to the Canadian government.)

[Via http://scintillator.wordpress.com]

In News Corp./Time Warner Cable Battle, the Winner Is ... Spite ...

MEDICAL IMAGING PHYSICS By WILLIAM.R.HENDEE

2009-12-30T09:39:00.000+02:00

Book overview This comprehensive publication covers all aspects of image formation in modern medical imaging modalities, from radiography, fluoroscopy, and computed tomography, to magnetic resonance imaging and ultrasound. It addresses the techniques and instrumentation used in the rapidly changing field of medical imaging. Now in its fourth edition, this text provides the reader with the tools necessary to be comfortable with the physical principles, equipment, and procedures used in diagnostic imaging, as well as appreciate the capabilities and limitations of the technologies.

Medical Imaging Physics covers all aspects of image formation in modern medical imaging modalities, from radiography, fluoroscopy, and computed tomography, to magnetic resonance imaging and ultrasound.

Medical Imaging Physics addresses the techniques and instrumentation used in the rapidly changing field of medical imaging.

Topics covered include:

* Digital x-ray imaging

* Doppler ultrasound

* Helical CT scanning

* Accumulation and analysis of nuclear data

* Experimental radiobiology

* Radiation protection and safety

* and contains over 200 figures

Medical Imaging Physics provides the reader with the tools necessary to be comfortable with the physical principles, equipment, and procedures used in diagnostic imaging, as well as appreciate the capabilities and limitations of the technologies.

Contents

1. Imaging in Medicine

2. Structure of Matter

3. Radioactive Decay

4. Interactions of Radiation

5. Production of X Rays

6. Radiation Quantity and Quality

7. Interaction of X and y Rays in the Body

8. Radiation Detectors for Quantitative Measurement

9. Accumulation and Analysis of Nuclear Data

10. Computers and Image Networking

11. Probability and Statistics

12. Instrumentation for Nuclear Imaging

13. Radiography

14. Fluoroscopy

15. Computed Tomography

16. Influences of Image Quality

17. Analytic Description of Image Quality

18. Visual Perception

19. Ultrasound Waves

20. Ultrasound Transducers

21. Ultrasound Instrumentation

22. Doppler Effect

23. Fundamentals of Magnetic Resonance

24. Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Spectroscopy

25. Magnetic Resonance Imaging: Instrumentation, Bioeffects, and Site Planning

26. Experimental Radiobiology

27. Human Radiobiology

28. Protection from External Sources of Radiation

29. Protection from Internal Sources of Radiation

30. Future Developments in Medical Imaging

Appendixes:

* Review of Mathematics.

* Fourier Transform.

* Multiples and Prefixes.

* Masses in Atomic Mass Units for Neutral Atoms of Stable Nuclides and a Few Unstable Nuclides

Index

[Via http://kushtripathi.wordpress.com]

Facebook Receives News of A Merry Christmas Indeed

Google Books

2009-12-30T02:52:00.000+02:00

Cannabinoids as therapeutics
Marijuana and the cannabinoids
Cannabinoids
The medicinal uses of cannabis and cannabinoids
Endocannabinoids: the brain and body’s marijuana and beyond
Marihuana reconsidered
Marihuana, the forbidden medicine
The great book of hemp: the complete guide to the environmental, commercial …
Cannabis and cannabinoids: pharmacology, toxicology, and therapeutic potential
Hemp for health: the medicinal and nutritional uses of Cannabis sativa
Hemp: lifeline to the future : the unexpected answer for our environmental …
The emperor wears no clothes

[Via http://qnbs7.wordpress.com]

Danish Sustainability: From Coats To Undies - Science News

A Typical ER Visit

2009-12-28T18:41:00.000+02:00

Mom, dad and two-year old child. The child is the patient. He has a runny nose, mild cough, congestion, stuffy, cranky and intermittent fever. You know. A cold. I really try not to be impatient with parents. I figure they are doing the best they can and it’s hard taking responsibility for another human being, especially a tiny one. But this too falls into the category of “really?” Do you really think this needs to be seen in an emergency room at 10 pm?

I guess I was even more irritated because about two minutes after meeting this family, I discover they already went to their own doctor a day and a half earlier (almost exactly 36 hours.) Their doctor put the child on an antibiotic already. So they were seen, examined, evaluated and treated. But it has been a whopping 36 hours and omigod! The baby is not fully well and omigod! What should we do!

So let me tell you, from this small encounter, a few things that are wrong with our American health care system.

1. First off, medically speaking, this child did not need antibiotics. No way. No how. Wrong, wrong, wrong. This child had a cold, plain and simple. Colds are viruses. Viruses are not bacteria, so an antibiotic, which is another way of saying anti-bacterial, is utterly ineffective. Another time we will talk about the actual negative implications of taking antibiotics when not necessary. The implications are huge.

2. Their doctor undoubtedly put the patient on antibiotics for one of two reasons. Probably he was hurried, and it is so, so, so much quicker to write a ’script than talk to the patient, especially if the entire family does not speak English. Or he took the path of least resistance. Many if not most patients do not believe a doctor who says that antibiotics (or x-rays, or CT, or MRI or blood tests etc) are not indicated. So we doctors learn it is less painful to not have our knowledge base continually trivialized by patients. (I have been asked at least a thousand times in my career: “How do you know it is a cold?” Or similar.) Not to mention keeping the customer happy, even if it is not good for the customer. We Americans have decided that customer satisfaction is an important variable in health care. And customers want tests and prescriptions.

3. The other reason the doctor may have prescribed antibiotics is that the doctor has already internalized such a risk-averse view of the American healthcare environment, that s/he cannot even think competently anymore in this regard. Many doctors now practice as if the 1% chance of something is the likeliest possibility. As in “there may be a 1% chance this is bacterial, so I should treat it as such.” That’s pretty much how it goes, and it is hard to tease out anymore what the doctor really thinks is going on clinically, from his perception and fears about malpractice and patient satisfaction. The doctor is pretty unaware that these factors have wormed their way into his clinical judgment. Because after all, most doctors know a cold when they see it. Except apparently when they are wearing their own white coat!

4. No ordinary, typical people who have to pay actual money to go see the doctor would normally wasted their own time and money like this. In the rest of their lives, normal people make “normal” decisions, taking into account the time and money factor. But these days the norm is to make abnormally ridiculous decisions, which is to run to the doctor. In fact, if people hesitate to run to the doctor, their friends and family are quick to criticize. “Have you gone to the doctor?” So the over-utilization of really expensive resources, which the ER is, is rampant and “normal.” Literally, only one generation ago people did not act like this. Up until the mid-1980’s people did not do this. But then the law changed, and people have internalized that as the new “normal.” More about that law in another post.

[Via http://theerdoctor.wordpress.com]

AMERICAblog News: In Iran, as government shoots protesters ...

The Virtual Visit May Expand Access to Doctors

2009-12-28T02:08:00.000+02:00

Last time I posted something about technology that helps (?) nurses so this time I posted something about technology that makes access to physicians easier for the general public. I think I like this, but I will have to think about it more. I can see that this could have a practical application for minor illnesses and would save time and money for most people. I can also see the doctor’s position–that there is no actual relationship with a patient and that they are reluctant to treat without face-to-face interaction.

However, the future is here with us now and we may all have to rethink our biases and our ideas of what health care is and is not.

——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

By CLAIRE CAIN MILLER Published: December 20, 2009

SAN FRANCISCO — Americans could soon be able to see a doctor without getting out of bed, in a modern-day version of the house call that takes place over the Web.

Enlarge This Image

Mark Graham for The New York Times

Dr. Christopher Crow conducting a simulated online exam in Plano, Tex.

Enlarge This Image

Mark Graham for The New York Times

A screen shot of that exam, which is not of an actual patient. Dr. Crow says the NowClinic system allows him to pick up on nonverbal cues, similar to an in-person visit.

OptumHealth, a division of UnitedHealth Group, the nation’s largest health insurer, plans to offer NowClinic, a service that connects patients and doctors using video chat, nationwide next year. It is introducing it state by state, starting with Texas, but not without resistance from state medical associations.

OptumHealth believes NowClinic will improve health care by ameliorating some of the stresses on the system today, like wasted time dealing with appointments and insurance claims, a shortage of primary care physicians and limited access to care for many patients.

But some doctors worry that the quality of care that patients receive will suffer if physicians neglect one of the most basic elements of health care: a physical exam.

“This is a pale imitation of a doctor visit,” said David Himmelstein, a primary care doctor and associate professor at Harvard Medical School. “It’s basically saying, ‘We’re going to give up any pretense of examining the patient and most of the nonverbal clues that doctors use.’ ”

Others, including Rashid Bashshur, director of telemedicine at the University of Michigan Health System, say online medicine is a less expensive way of providing routine care.

“The argument that you need the ‘laying on of hands’ to practice medicine is an old and tired argument that simply has no credibility,” he said. “There are two constants in medicine: change and resistance to change.”

Christopher Crow, a family physician in Plano, Tex., who used the system during its test period, said, “NowClinic gives you the ability to have that gut feel if something is wrong, in tone or facial expression or body language, that you have when you walk in the door with a patient.”

Many patients who do not have primary care physicians nearby use the emergency room for routine problems. Wait times for patients needing immediate attention have increased 40 percent, in part because of overcrowding, according to a study by Harvard Medical School and Cambridge Health Alliance.

In Texas, 180 counties do not have enough physicians, 70 percent of patients cannot obtain a same-day visit with their primary care doctor, and 79 percent of emergency room visits are for routine problems, according to OptumHealth.

“We are, through this technology, replenishing the pool of physicians and making them available to patients,” said Roy Schoenberg, chief executive of American Well, which created the system that OptumHealth is using.

For $45, anyone in Texas can use NowClinic, whether or not they are insured, by visiting NowClinic.com. Doctors hold 10-minute appointments and can file prescriptions, except for controlled substances. Eventually they will be able to view patients’ medical histories if they are available.

The introduction of NowClinic will be the first time that online care has been available nationwide, regardless of insurance coverage.

American Well’s service is also available to patients in Hawaii and Minnesota, through Blue Cross Blue Shield, and to some members of the military seeking mental health care, through TriWest Healthcare Alliance.

Some hospitals and technology companies provide similar services on a smaller scale, including Cisco, the networking equipment maker, which uses its videoconferencing technology to remotely connect employees with doctors. It is working with UnitedHealth Group to offer the service more broadly.

The service has encountered resistance in states where it is already available. Texas law requires that before doctors consult with patients or prescribe medicine online or over the phone, they form a relationship through means like a physical examination.

The Texas Medical Board, which regulates doctors in the state, is evaluating its telemedicine policies in light of new technologies. But Mari Robinson, executive director of the board, said that an online or telephone exam was inadequate if doctors and patients had not met in person and was “not allowed under our rules.”

After American Well’s service began in Hawaii last year, lawmakers passed legislation that allowed doctors and patients to establish a relationship online, though the Hawaii Medical Association opposed the bill.

“From our perspective, we still are a little bit concerned that a relationship can be established online with no prior relationship,” said April Troutman Donahue, the association’s executive director.

American Well and OptumHealth predict that health care professionals will adapt. “This is new technology, so you have a lot of code written that doesn’t take these medical technologies into account,” said Rob Webb, chief executive of OptumHealth Care Solutions.

Many patients seem ready to embrace the new technology. In a recent study, a Harvard research team at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center found that patients were comfortable with computers playing a central role in their health care and expected that the Web would substitute for face-to-face doctor visits for routine health problems.

You can view the original article here

[Via http://nursingtrends.wordpress.com]

Skipper Cesc is Gunners' super-sub | Latest News | Football News ...

Merry Christmas: the same in any language

2009-12-25T02:22:00.000+02:00

In any language, Merry Christmas means the same. The reason for the season is the birth of a child in a manger. For Christians, this marks the day remembered as the birth of the Savior, Jesus, the Son of God. For us all, let us seek to have a new year filled with love, tempered with common sense and belief in values. Merry Christmas to all . . . obi jo and jomaxx

In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be enrolled. This was the first enrollment, when Quirinius was governor of Syria. And all went to be enrolled, each to his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be enrolled with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. And while they were there, he time came for her to be delivered. And she gave birth to her first-born son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

- The Bible, Luke John 1:12

聖誕快樂 Vrolijke Kerstmis Joyeux Noël Frohe Weihnachten Χαρούμενα Χριστούγεννα

Feliz Natal 즐거운 성탄 Buon Natale メリークリスマス С Рождеством Христовым Feliz Navidad

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News Quiz | December 23, 2009 - The Learning Network Blog ...

NHS Prescription / Homeopathy Remedies for Cold and Flu

2009-12-23T01:37:00.000+02:00

昨日、バスから追い出され、雪の中を半時間歩いたせいか、ひきかけの風邪が悪化した。鼻がぐずぐずしてひどい鼻声になり、しょっちゅう鼻をかんでいる。風邪薬を買いに行きがてら、薬局で先日もらった処方箋薬も受け取る（上は以前使用しなかった処方箋）。イギリスでは、処方箋薬は無料。だから特に指定がなければ、価格の安いジェネリック医薬品が処方される。薬代は無料でも、処方箋料（NHS prescription charges）を一回につき£7.20払わなければいけない。なので、成分や薬効が変わらなれば、値段の安い、処方箋の要らない市販薬を勧められることもある。

少し前に街角でもらったフリーペーパー、The Epoch Times（大紀元：法輪功関連の新聞だそうだ。知らなかった！読んだのは英語版）に載っていた、新型インフルエンザに効くというホメオパシー・レメディーをBoots（ブーツ）で買っておいたので、風邪にも効くかなと使ってみた。ホメオパシーが盛んなイギリスでは、ブーツ等の普通の薬局で手に入る。最初に少しの喉の痛みを感じてから、風邪やインフルエンザのひきはじめに効くというAconite（Aconitum napellus：アコナイト、トリカブト／£4.99）を使用。その後数日間は、レメディーのせいか安静にしていたからかどうか分からないけれど、症状は悪化しなかった。風邪がひどくなった今日から、新型の初期流行に最も効果的だったというArsen alb（Arsenicum Album：アーセニカム、砒素／£4.99）が、鼻水を伴う風邪にも効くというので試している。

ホメオパシーは、科学的にその効果が証明されておらず、プラセボ効果以上に効き目はないと言われているのだが、イギリスでは£4000億の市場規模を誇るビジネス。レメディーを売っているブーツ自身、効果はさておき、売れるから取り扱っていると認めている。Mは超科学信奉者なので、ホメオパシーや代替療法は一切信用しない。共に薬剤師である両親も然り。私はというと、プラセボ効果でも何でも、効けばラッキーぐらいに思っている。また他に効果的な治療法や薬がなければ、民間療法でも何でも、すがりたくなる気持ちも分かる。さて、今使っているレメディーの効果はいかに？でも、あんまり効果がない場合に備えて、一応市販の風邪薬も買ってある。

＊ここで使用したレメディーのリンクは、ネットサーチの結果、一般的な用途が分かりやすく書かれていたサイトを引用しましたが、このストア・サイトとは何の関係もありません。また効果の程も、信用できるサイトかどうかも分かりません。ご購入される際は、そのことを納得の上、ご自分でお調べください。

Probably because I was kicked out from the bus and forced to walk in snow for half an hour yesterday, my cold got worse. My nose is runny and my voice has changed, and I have been blowing my nose all the time. So I went to a pharmacy to buy a cold medicine, and picked up my prescription drug as well (the prescription above is the unused one I got in the past). In UK, a prescription drug is free, but you pay NHS prescription charges for £7.20 (price from April 2009 to now). and usually a cheap generic medicine is given if you don’t choose others. A pharmacist often recommend to buy over-the-counter drug, if it is cheaper than prescription charge and if the ingredients and effectiveness are more or less the same with the prescription medicine.

I bought two homeopathy remedies from Boots, which supposedly effective for Swine flu, after I read the Epoch Times‘ (free paper founded by practitioners of the Falun Gong – I didn’t now it) article about it. First I had used Aconite (Aconitum napellus) , which can be helpful at the first sign of flu and cold symptoms. My condition had been the status quo for few days – I don’t know because of the effect of Aconite, or because I had been at home kept myself warm. Now my symptoms got worse and I started to take Arsen alb, which is “the most commonly indicated remedy for the H1N1 virus outbreak of early 2009,” as I read that it works for a blocked nose as well.

Homeopathy is not supported by modern scientific research, and it is said that there is little evidence the remedies work other than as a placebo. But homeopathy is £40 million industry in the UK, and Boots admits that they sell homeopathic remedies because “they sell, not because they work“. M believes only science, not homeopathy or alternative medicines – so do my parents who are both pharmacists. I myself don’t mind to try anything as long as it works and safe. I also understand people who find a hope in alternative medicines if there is no other cure. Let’s see if my homeopathic remedy works for me. I bought usual cold medicine as well, in case it doesn’t work at all.

下のビデオは、これを書いている時に偶然見た、グラクソ・スミスクライン社のBeecham（ビーチャム）風邪薬のTVコマーシャル。ちなみに、去年のHSBC銀行の広告でも相撲力士が起用された。肌色を濃くして、目を切れ長に修正した白人がモデルのこの広告が、日本人に対する侮辱的だと在住日本人の間でひんしゅくを買っているとの記事があったが、私個人としては，そんなに目くじらたてる程のことでもないと思うんだけれど。多かれ少なかれ、外国人の描き方にステレオタイプが入るのは仕方ないことだし、Mも日本のバラエティ等で「ガイジン」が面白おかしく取り上げられているのが不愉快だと言っている。文句を言う人は、人の振り見て我が振り直せ、というところですね。

The video below is the TV commercial of Beechams, the GlaxoSmithKline owned cold and flu remedy, that I happened to see on TV while I waswriting this entry. HSBC bank also used Sumo wrestler for their advertising last year. But HSBC was under fire as the campaign uses the image of a western man whose skin tone has been darkened and that make-up has been applied that appears to narrow his eyes, and it has upset Japanese living in UK, according to the Guardian article. Personally I don’t think it is a big deal – a portrayal of a foreigner is more or less based on a stereotype, not only Japanese. M complains that some Japanese TV programs make fun of ‘Gaijin’, foreigners in Japanese. At the end of the day, I think any country does the same, or otherwise it would be very boring if everything is goody-goody.

[Via http://everydaylifestyle.wordpress.com]

Internet news as a market for news lemons | Online Journalism Blog

The Ear Infections Epidemic - The Truth Every Parent Needs to Know!

2009-12-21T18:26:00.000+02:00

Dr. Maj adjusting young Samantha

Dr. Stephanie Maj answers the most pressing question in her pediatric practice: What is the cause of ear infections and what can we do to heal them without drugs or surgery?

Chicago-Ask any parent about ear infections, and you will likely hear one horror story after another. Ear infection or Otitis Media, is the most common reason for visits to the pediatrician’s office. In fact, visits to the pediatrician’s office for ear infections have increased over 150% from 1975 to 1990. It is estimated that over 30 million visits are made every year in an attempt to deal with this problem.

In my practice, we have an effective, safe solution to the problems plaguing parents. What we find is most parents fail to understand what is happening with these infections.

Otitis Media is the general name for several conditions affecting the middle ear. The most common symptoms are earache, a feeling of pressure, and perhaps difficulty hearing due to increased amounts of fluid. Teething often produces similar symptoms, therefore, the child should be carefully observed before jumping to any conclusions.

Historically, the treatment for ear infections has been antibiotics. This method of treatment has come under severe attack over the past several years for many reasons. One of the reasons, the overuse and over prescription of these antibiotics, has led to what is termed “antibiotic resistant bacteria”. These bacteria have “evolved” and changed so that the antibiotics no longer affect them. Because of this phenomenon, stronger and stronger antibiotics are being used, which is leading to more and more resistance. (http://tinyurl.com/yep3y33)

Another reason use of antibiotics has come under fire is because study after study has demonstrated that they are not effective. In other words, they do not work! This is why so many children are on one antibiotic after another, stronger and stronger each time. Sure, many times the infection will go away, but it quickly returns with a vengeance, and so begins the antibiotic roller coaster.

The reasons they continually reoccur is two-fold: First, antibiotics kill off most bacteria in the body including the helpful “good” bacteria our bodies need. This depletes our children’s natural immune system, making them vulnerable to many more infections of varying types.

Secondly, antibiotics merely attempt to treat the symptoms of ear infections, they do not address the actual cause and therefore the infections return.

The real question then is what is the cause of ear infections? The reality is that ear infections themselves are merely a symptom of a greater problem. The vast majority of them are secondary to a cold or another infection, which may be due to a depressed immune system.

The other more physical reason children suffer from ear infections is because of the actual anatomy of the young ear.

In children, the Eustachian tube is nearly horizontal, gradually acquiring a near 45-degree angle. This often slows draining of these tubes and with stagnant fluid, infection may appear.

The obvious question from most parents now is: what can we do? The answer lies in a new level of thinking.

As a chiropractor, my primary objective is to address the root cause of health problems. Treating symptoms, as mentioned earlier, has been proven unsuccessful at best. When dealing with your children and ear infections, my goal is to correct the actual cause, and to allow the body to function at its optimal potential. (http://tinyurl.com/ybqlymw)

There is a direct link between the nerves in the neck (the superior cervical ganglion), the muscles of the Eustachian tubes (tensor veli palatini) and the middle ear.

Let me explain: The middle ear drains any fluid through the Eustachian tubes. These tubes open and close through the action of a muscle and that muscle is controlled by a nerve. This nerve originates in the neck. When this nerve is not functioning normally, the tensor veli palatini muscle may go into spasm, which constricts the Eustachian tube, restricting drainage and causing fluid buildup in the middle ear. This fluid, combined with a stressed immune system, may result in an ear infection.

Ultimately then, this “nerve interference” can cause your children to suffer as they do. My job as a chiropractor is to detect this nerve interference called subluxation, and correct it. A subluxation is a misalignment of a bone in the spine that pinches, stretches or twists a nerve resulting in interference.

By correcting this interference, the child’s body is given the potential to heal and be well. With proper chiropractic care, your child will be able to live a life free from nerve interference, and free from unnecessary medications and antibiotics.

Chiropractic adjustments for children are very gentle and differ tremendously from the adult version. Imagine you are putting a contact in your eye or testing a tomato to see if it is ripe, that is the extent of the pressure used in these treatments. There is no twisting, popping or pulling involved.

Through advances in technology such as Surface EMG and Thermal Scans, a chiropractor can easily detect these subluxations and monitor their correction as well. This enables chiropractors to be accurate and objective, allowing you the best care possible.

A promising study published in the Journal of Clinical Chiropractic Pediatrics now indicates that there is a strong correlation between chiropractic adjustments and the resolution of ear infections. 332 children with chronic ear infections participated in the study. Each child, ranging in age from 27 days to 5 years, was given a series of chiropractic adjustments. The results show that close to 80% of the children in this study experienced NO ear infections within the six-month period following their initial visits. The six-month period included maintenance treatments every four to six weeks.

Correcting the cause through chiropractic has been shown to help over 80% of all children with ear infections.

Treating the symptoms of ear infections with antibiotics has proven to be ineffective. Give your children a fighting chance with chiropractic; it could change your lives!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dr. Stephanie A. Maj has been helping children and adults experience life at their maximum potential through Chiropractic for over 14 years. She is the author of the book, “You Can Be Well” and lectures throughout Chicago on a variety of health issues, and may be contacted at 773.528.8485. Community Chiropractic is located at 1442 W. Belmont, 1E Chicago, IL 60657. Her website is www.communitychiropractic.net.

[Via http://youcanbewell.wordpress.com]

AMERICAblog News: China hit with blame for Copenhagen failure

Anti-depressants 'up stroke risk'

2009-12-18T02:41:00.000+02:00

Aspirin is prescribed for high cholesterol,it also causes intestinal bleeding.

Pain killers cause serious after effects.

Scans increase the risk to cancer.

Diuretics damage kidneys.

Cancer inducing genes identified now;yet we have already cured it.

Caffeine was perceived to be carcinogenic;now it reduces cancer risk also prevents heart disease.

Take any medicine, you have the same ambivalence.

Or take any prognosis-as many number of opinions as that of specialists.

Is Medicine a Science?

Post menopausal women who take anti-depressants face a small – but statistically significant – increased risk of a stroke, research suggests.

The US study was based on 136,293 women aged 50 to 79, who were followed for an average of six years.

Anti-depressant users were 45% more likely to have a stroke than women not taking the drugs.

The data, published in Archives of Internal Medicine, is taken from the Women’s Health Initiative Study.

When overall death rates were examined, those on anti-depressants were found to have a 32% higher risk of death from all causes during the study than non-users.

The researchers stressed that the overall risk of a stroke was relatively small. Even for women on anti-depressants, it was less than one in 200 chance in any given year.

You have to weigh the benefits that you get from these anti-depressants against the small increase in risk that we found in this study

Dr Sylvia Wassertheil-Smoller

Albert Einstein College of Medicine

However, they said that because so many women were taking anti-depressants the effect would be significant across the entire population.

It is not clear whether taking anti-depressants is solely responsible for the increased risk of a stroke.

Depression itself is known to be a risk factor for cardiovascular problems.

The researchers tried to take this into account in their analysis of the data – but could not rule out the possibility that it influenced the final results.

The study found no difference in stroke risk between the two major classes of anti-depressants, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) or tricyclic anti-depressants (TCAs).

However, the SSRIs did appear to convey a higher risk of hemorrhagic stroke caused by a bleed in the brain.

Lead researcher Dr Sylvia Wassertheil-Smoller, of Albert Einstein College of Medicine, stressed that treatment for depression was important, and that women should not stop taking prescribed medication without first consulting their doctor.

She said: “You have to weigh the benefits that you get from these antidepressants against the small increase in risk that we found in this study.”

Known links

The researchers said follow-up studies were needed before any firm conclusions could be drawn.

Dr Jordan Smoller, of Harvard Medical School, who also worked on the study, said: “We need to study this association more to determine exactly what it signifies.”

Joanne Murphy, for The Stroke Association stressed the study showed that overall risk for women taking anti-depressants was relatively small.

She said “We are already aware of links between depression and the risk of stroke and we are currently funding further studies to look into this.

“Everyone can help reduce their risk of stroke by making lifestyle changes, such as reducing their blood pressure, giving up smoking, reducing alcohol intake, improving their diet and getting plenty of exercise.”

Ellen Mason, of the British Heart Foundation, said: “Severe depression can be debilitating and even fatal, so it is important to weigh up any small increase in the risk of stroke with the benefits of treating depression.”

Bridget O’Connell, from the mental health charity Mind, said antidepressants produced a range of side effects that affected people in different ways.

She said: “Many people can experience huge benefits from taking antidepressants and it’s important they work with their GP to identify both the plus points and the drawbacks, and weigh up what treatment is best for them.”

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8408783.stm

[Via http://ramanan50.wordpress.com]

Digital comics go live on PSP // News

Pengmabuk

2009-12-16T18:37:00.000+02:00

Bismillah

O you who have believed, indeed, intoxicants, gambling, [sacrificing on] stone alters [to other than Allah ], and divining arrows are but defilement from the work of Satan, so avoid it that you may be successful.

Al-Ma’idah 5:90

I read a very interesting post on alcohol in iLuvislam.com… Actually I wanted to talk about it to last week, but somehow I forgot about it… -.-’

I’m writing this for my Muslim friends who are drinking… I wish that they are reading this, but I highly doubt it…

Every Friday I’ll have a class on ‘Complex Nutrition in Sportsmen’… The whole course deals about how to ensure that athletes get enough nutrients depending on the type of sports… For example, we’re told about what’s good for endurance sportsman/woman and what’s good for power sports… We are also taught about diet, doping and drinking regimes… Which is very interesting, because I never thought that food and also drinks play a very very important (I knew they are important, but not as important as stressed in the class) role in sports… They even design the diet programs to be used from months before and up to 30 minutes before the competition!

And when talking about drinks, being in Czech Republic, of course they will mention about alcohol somewhere along the course… It’s to be expected, since Czech Republic is one of the countries with the highest alcohol consumption per-capita in the world (1st in terms of beer)… And as expected, the professor mentioned about the merits and demerits of alcohol… The presentation also mentioned that beer is a good thirst quencher… I couldn’t help but chuckle during the class…

Half full or half empty? Regardless, it’s the best thirst quencher…

If you want to know more about how can alcohol be bad to your health, please read the article I mentioned above… I won’t mention them here, as that would be unjust to the writer… Honestly, the article mentioned about Blood Brain Barrier, Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, which I think is impressive…

However the harm that drinkers are causing to their brains and livers are only part of the problem… Ever heard about secondary smokers? For alcohol, there are also secondary drinkers… Who are they? They are the people who died when hit by a drunk driver… They are the people who got to clean up the mess (puke, urine or whatever) in the bus next morning… They are the victims of household violence by people under the influence… They are the newborns born with cravings for alcohol…

With that, let’s all stay sober…

For those who love Google Earth, and want to see the effects of alcohol on the world, download this file (got from New Scientist.com)

[Via http://taknakbagitengok.wordpress.com]

Hot Air » Blog Archive » Good news: Pelosi a finalist for Time's ...

Blood-sucking union

2009-12-14T18:48:00.000+02:00

Literally.

At a time of year when blood donations are at their lowest levels and are the most urgently needed, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, SEIU’s sister union and member of Burger’s Change to Win labor coalition, took advantage of the opportunity to go on strike on December 4th against the American Red Cross Blood Services Penn-Jersey Region. Local 929 initiated the strike at midnight just as their contract expired. Hours later, the Red Cross was forced to take legal action when some strikers illegally blocked one blood delivery in particular

“the Red Cross says it had to inform union members that a two-year-old child’s life depended on our blood delivery before they would allow a Red Cross vehicle to exit the yard to get the necessary blood products to the hospital.”

[Via http://jeffreyquick.wordpress.com]

Lapin takes Gardner's CEO role at Atari // News

Shaken: Journey into the Mind of a Parkinson’s Patient

2009-12-14T02:16:00.000+02:00

See how Deep-brain Stimulation works:

‘Most people know that Parkinson’s disease is a crippling neurodegenerative disorder. But what do Parkinson’s patients actually have to go through day after day? And what do such procedures as deep-brain stimulation (DBS)—currently the most effective surgical treatment for the disease—involve?

‘Shaken: Journey into the Mind of a Parkinson’s Patient answers these questions. The documentary follows Paul Schroder, who was diagnosed with the disease when he was in his 30s and who, after growing increasingly debilitated, decided to undergo DBS. The film is now airing nationally on public television stations and is available on DVD through the Lila Films Web site’ www.lilafilms.com/shakendvd.htm. -Sci Am

[Via http://pochp.wordpress.com]

AMERICAblog News| A great nation deserves the truth: UN study ...

Update from Las Vegas!

2009-12-11T18:48:00.000+02:00

Things are going very well at the Annual Congress on Anti-Aging Medicine and Regenerative Biomedical Technologies in Las Vegas! The show has been very active, with many doctors showing interest in our equipment! Quite a few of our products have been sold already.

As this is the first purely medical trade show that Lypossage has participated in, we were very pleased with the response! Not only has the booth generated a great deal of interest, but many attendees have heard of Lypossage, and were very excited to see our presence at the show!

Below are some pictures from the show, and there are even more after the jump!

Katie Wiltsie & Charles W. Wiltsie III at the booth in Las Vegas, Nevada

Katie demonstrating our equipment on the Lypossage model

Katie demonstrating Lypossage equipment at the booth in Las Vegas

[Via http://lypossage.wordpress.com]

Hot Air » Blog Archive » Fox News poll: Opposition to ObamaCare ...

Desperate dad's Google delivery

2009-12-11T02:22:00.000+02:00

Advantage of Technology.Sometimes, most of the information on the same subject are contradictory, for example refer excessive lactation-diet.Under the circumstances it is prudent to call in the Doctor and browsed information must be kept for reference after cross verification.

FRANTIC father Leroy Smith resorted to Google with the request “how to deliver a baby” when his wife went into labour.

When wife Emma suddenly started to give birth at home, he opted to use the internet. Mr Smith called a midwife for advice, but before she arrived Emma, 25, began having powerful contractions.

So the 29-year-old father of three grabbed hold of his BlackBerry, accessed the internet, and sought help from search engine Google for step-by-step instructions.

After following the guidance from internet encyclopedia Wikipedia, Mr Smith helped his wife give birth to daughter Mahalia Merita Angela Smith.

“I was very, very nervous. I never thought I’d actually have to do it. The BlackBerry told me that when I saw the head, I had to support it,” Mr Smith said.

Proud mum-of-four Emma, of Leytonstone, East London, said: “It’s incredible that Leroy delivered our first daughter. The other three are boys.

“And thank God for the BlackBerry, I’m never going to moan at Leroy about being on the phone again.”

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,26470820-5013016,00.html

[Via http://ramanan50.wordpress.com]

The Man Behind Google News | The New York Observer

it was a good thing (he knew CPR)

2009-12-07T02:03:00.000+02:00

the morning after

december’s first snowfall i

woke up in clear eyes,

borrowed pajamas and with a

chest bruised

from where the

doctors had pumped wild

air back into lips and

lungs that for too

long had tasted only

salt.

[Via http://arspoetica.wordpress.com]

Google Finance Adds Realtime News Streams

The Scientific American Day in the Life of Your Brain

2009-12-04T18:16:00.000+02:00

The Scientific American Day in the Life of Your Brain by Judith Horstman

RC 341 .H67 2009

“A 24-Hour Journal of What’s Happening in Your Brain as You Sleep, Dream, Wake Up, Eat, Work, Play, Fight, Love, Worry, Compete, Hope, Make Important Decisions, Age, and Change”–cover.

“The Scientific American Day in the Life of Your Brain reveals what’s going on in there while you sleep and dream, how your brain makes memories and forms addictions, and why we sometimes make bad decisions. The book also offers intriguing information about your emotional brain and what’s happening when you’re feeling love, lust, fear, and anxiety–and how sex, drugs, and rock and roll tickle the same spots.

Based on the latest scientific information, the book explores your brain’s remarkable ability to change, how your brain can make new neurons even into old age, and why multitasking may be bad for you.

Your brain is uniquely yours–but research is showing that many of its day-to-day cycles are universal. This book gives you a look inside your brain and some insights into why you may feel and act as you do.”–book jacket.

[Via http://scclibrary.wordpress.com]

Finally, Some Very Good Jobs News - Economix Blog - NYTimes.com

Plan for today

2009-12-02T10:11:00.000+02:00

1. Get out of bed

2. Jump into the shower

3. Get dressed and all

4. Walk to Asda and buy “niste”

5. Head so over to the library and catch up with Ida and Magda (If Magda has got there by that time)

6. Do some epic sketchbook work

7. Edit essay a bit (This is a maybe, I might concentrate on the sketchbook bit)

8. Take my medicine

9. Meet my boyfriend

10. Eat something and drink something

11. Check Facebook from time to time

12. Go home and go to bed

These things can occur in a random order.

[Via http://dougielee.wordpress.com]

UK charts: MW2 untouchable on top News | Eurogamer

When She Gains a Few Pounds: Walking Through a Minefield in Relationships and Marriage

2009-12-02T02:30:00.000+02:00

Cold weather and “the holidays” are here, at least in the Northern Hemisphere, and many of us tend to over-feast and are about to develop that inconvenient layer of winter fat and we’re already wondering how many extra trips to the gym it will take to get rid of it. And it’s not just winter fat, either. Stress, pregnancy, etc., can put a major whammy on women, who are especially troubled in the Southern Hemisphere right now because bikini season is here! What do you do when she gains a few pounds? Inquiring minds want to know, at least if they ever hope enjoy being married again…

The holidays are here, and that means good food and parties. It also means a lot of scrambling around trying to do holiday shopping and eating out for lack of time, not to mention family gatherings, etc. That means that unless your wife is extremely disciplined or has an extremely high metabolism, she’s going to pick up a few pounds, and like it or not, you’re going to have to deal with it.

Sounds like a no-win situation, huh? It’s tricky for sure, but not impossible. Here’s a typical letter about this most common problem, and a very sticky one to say the least. Meet Tia:

Dear David,

I need your help. The past few months I have put on a few extra pounds due to a medication that I have to take for my asthma. Everybody tells me that they don’t notice it and I look good, but to me I feel like the Goodyear blimp and have no desire to be intimate with my husband at all because I’m embarrassed over having curves in places that were flat. The more he tries to tell me I look sexy the more his advances just make me feel pressured, and I hate feeling under pressure this way. It has nothing to do with not loving him or not wanting to enjoy each other the way we always have. We have always been very in touch with each other and being together in the bed was always one of the best parts.

I was hoping you could give me some advice as to how I could bring this up with him. I want him to understand just how awful I feel I look and how it has nothing to do with him at this point.

Thank you,

Tia

Tia, I’m going to make this really easy for you, because it’s such a great question. Just print this and let him read it, because I’m going to tell him and all the other men about this. He won’t know it’s you unless you tell him because I’ve changed the name to protect your privacy.

Get ready guys! Pay close attention, take notes, and make sure you fully understand what you’re about to read. This is some of the most critical information to ever appear in this newsletter and you need to get this down pat and cold, right now, because sooner or later, EVERY woman will experience a bit of weight gain that makes her uncomfortable with her appearance, and consequently, with YOU. There is both medical and emotional/psychological/relationship information and advice here, and I promise you it will be worth your while to spend a couple extra minutes reading it. It may not only help save your marriage, it may help save your or your spouse’s life.

If you’ve read “THE Man’s Guide to Great Relationships and Marriage,” you know about the difference in the male and female brain structure. Aside from making our communications styles and methods grossly different, it also makes women visualize and dramatize to the extreme compared to males.

You also must remember that nearly all of the advertising in the fashion and beauty industries is designed to prey upon a woman’s sense of competitiveness to make her feel insecure about her appearance so she’ll buy their products even if she doesn’t need them. Women are literally bombarded with this crap everywhere they look, and while you or I probably wouldn’t even notice a little weight gain until we had to loosen our belt a notch or sew a button back on our trousers that had popped off, to them a pound or two can be nearly or entirely traumatic, especially if they’ve taken pride in a flat stomach for a long time.

We often respond to this by telling them that they look “fine,” “sexy,” “hot,” etc., and that is precisely the wrong thing to do. Why?

She knows what she sees in the mirror, and thinks that you see what she sees in the mirror. If she thinks she looks fat and you say she looks sexy, all that says to her is that either you’re lying to suck up to her or your standards are really, really low. Don’t go there, even if you really think she looks better with a couple of extra pounds because you like the curves, and whatever you do, DON’T tell her you like the new curves! That can get you killed, because in her ears, that’s, “But honey, I like you better when you’re fat like this.” (Ladies, you are cordially invited to write and tell the men just that – I’ll reprint your letters so the men will know just how serious an issue this is.)

And this is getting to be a more and more pervasive problem, especially in the United States. In the 1980’s some moron at the FDA decided that Americans might get too much iodine in their diet, and told manufacturers to replace the potassium iodide that was added to flour and other things as an anti-caking agent with potassium bromide, which attaches to the same receptors in the thyroid as iodine but does not create thyroid hormones, the chemicals that keep your metabolism up to a healthy level, because they are based on iodine. They also advised against the iodizing of salt. This resulted in slowed metabolism and “brominated thyroid,” a condition wherein the thyroid is inundated with bromine, which renders it dysfunctional or even non-functional.

Concurrently, women started trying to add career aspirations to motherhood and running a household, which added stress. Stress causes the over-production of hydrocortisone, a.k.a., “cortisol,” by the adrenal glands, which causes your body to store fat for hard times (in normal amounts it actually helps you keep weight off because it is what transports the T3 thyroid hormone that regulates your metabolism into the cells where it causes your mitochondria to burn glucose to do whatever each cell is designed to do, the core of the human metabolism).

Then we have another idiot at the FDA who determined that a high-carbohydrate, low-fat or fat-free diet was healthy, overloading all of us with carbohydrates and making us insulin-resistant and consequently further slowing our thyroids (high blood glucose level impedes the conversion of T4, a thyroid hormone that is mostly inert and used to store iodine to T3), making us fatter and often diabetic.

Incidentally, prolonged stress causes fatigue of the adrenal glands, and when this happens, sufficient hydrocortisone to get the T3 hormone into the cells is not produced. This creates many of the symptoms of hypothyroidism, but obviously treating adrenal fatigue with thyroid hormone doesn’t fix the problem; indeed, it makes it worse, because the adrenal glands have to convert the excess T4 hormone into something else (called “reverse T3”) to get it out of the bloodstream, further stressing the adrenal glands. Thank you “modern medicine.”

Yes, I have a bone to pick with these incompetent jerks, and the pharmaceutical companies that are behind them, but my axe-grinding here is to show you why you see so many people around you becoming more and more overweight and to hopefully open your eyes to the facts that 1) it’s likely to happen to you and/or your partner, 2) you’ll have to deal with both the physical and emotional/psychological impact of it, and 3) there are things that you can do to fix it before it gets terribly broken and you and/or your partner end up on medication for the rest of your significantly-shortened life.

Incidentally, if you are even marginally overweight or there is any possibility that you could have a lower-than-normal (98.6° F. or 37.0° C., anything more than 0.2° F. or 0.1° C. is suspect) basal body temperature, slowed metabolism, dry skin, brittle nails, sleep disturbances, the outer third of your eyebrows thinning, thinning hair, dark circles around you eyes, allergies, weight gain, or any type of autoimmune problem, whether or not you are already on thyroid medication, go to http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/ and order the author’s very thorough, 100% factually-based book on the thyroid and how it is inadequately and inappropriately all over the world using the wrong lab tests (TSH, total T3 and total T4) and the wrong medication (synthetic T4 hormone, a.k.a., “Synthroid,” Levothyroxin, et al). It is also available at a slight discount at some of the bigger bookstores and online retailers. (I receive no commissions or other consideration for this recommendation. I make it because you need these facts to live a healthy and happy life.)

I stress this because I had to become an expert on this subject for my own health. I have a thyroid deficiency, went through pure hell for several years while being told by several physicians that I was “adequately treated” while remaining 50 pounds overweight in spite of diet and exercise in excess of US Military fitness specifications and having 18 symptoms of hypothyroidism (that have been known and used to diagnose hypothyroidism for over 100 years before the infamous TSH lab test was made popular) remaining after several years of treatment, just because a lab result that reports irrelevant information was in “the normal range,” which some rather sharp doctors have found is preposterous. The StopTheThyroidMadness.com web site also has a link to another site that will help you find a local physician who will properly diagnose and treat this condition.

So getting back to your relationship, what are you supposed to do with regard to your partner?

You’d already know this, too, if you had read “THE Man’s Guide to Great Relationships and Marriage,” because you wouldn’t be making those kinds of advances and doing really stupid things like asking her to have sex with you. You’d be tripping her attraction triggers with alpha male behavior, naughty talk and gestures, and making her have fun and get so hot that she didn’t concern herself with her additional weight because she’d still feel sexy and desirable, and she’d be coming after YOU! (See Jay’s letter for an example, because he’s got it down cold.)

When you know what a woman wants, what makes her tick, how to both listen and talk to her, and how to lead her and have fun with her, she doesn’t feel like a middle-aged housewife that can’t compete with the 20-somethings anymore. She feels like a real queen who rules the world at your side by day and a red hot vixen by night, keeping that naughty little secret for you and you alone because you create it for her. There’s a time and place, not to mention a right way and a wrong way, for everything, and that includes delivering genuine, honest compliments, and giving them because they have been earned, not because you’re trying to get something in return. That’s called “flattery,” and it will get you absolutely nowhere with anyone who is worth getting anywhere with.

That, Gentlemen, is how a real man makes a real woman feel, and that is what you learn when you read “THE Man’s Guide to Great Relationships and Marriage.” So how many more times are you going to have to stick your foot in your mouth and spend the night in the doghouse before you go to http://www.makingherhappy.com/ and download your copy? Go now, and get it done, because there are far better things to do with your feet (and your mouth!).

In the meantime, live well, be well, and have a wonderful day!

David Cunningham

Labels: Handling Women’s Insecurities, hormones, How to Please a Woman, How Women Behave, Medicine, Warning Signs, What Women Want

[Via http://makingherhappy.wordpress.com]

Killer Bad News for Huckabee - Real Clear Politics – TIME.com

Allium Sativum

2009-11-30T10:42:00.000+02:00

Allium Sativum

Originally uploaded @ Flickr by fazliana zawawi

Allium Sativum or garlic rich with antioxidants that can enhance our immune system and also the heart. The active component is called allium and it is produced when the garlic is chopped, chewed, or bruised.

Apart from that, garlic is a powerful antibiotic and study also stated that it can reduce blood cholesterol level.

C’mon, let add some garlic into our meals!

[Via http://fazlianaphotography.wordpress.com]

Obamas Catch A College Basketball Game – ABC News | College ...

Damn you, pneumonia.

2009-11-30T02:47:00.000+02:00

I am taking an expectorant, a cough suppressant, an antibiotic, and an inhaler.

Yet I am still wheezing up a storm.

This cough has lasted over 2 weeks.

This bullshit needs to end.

But at least I spent my Thanksgiving with my grandparents. My grandfather was a surgeon, my nana is a nurse, and one of my aunts who was there is a doctor. So within 20 minutes of arriving, there were rummaging through drawers and cabinets looking for medicine to give me and calling the pharmacy for more. It’s great having relatives who can get you prescription drugs.

[Via http://katiedora7.wordpress.com]

Ex-CBS News producer Bernard Birnbaum dies

Medicine theme 8. Pomegranate.

2009-11-27T10:28:00.000+02:00

The night was terrible.

I suffered, couldn’t sleep.

The torture was incredible.

I had to bite my lips.

Oh yes! My dear sun!

At last, the day has come!

My dream is coming true.

The shop I’m walking to

Is quite near, but this way

Looks very long today.

Phew! I’m in, and now

I see the fruit I thought about

While suffering that night!

Pomegranate, you’ll help me fight,

And I know you’ll help me win.

I only need your skin.

The only remedy I trust.

It always heals one illness fast.

That’s why I shambled here:

You’ll kill this diarrhoea.

[Via http://iverhyck.wordpress.com]

Microsoft-News Corp. Talks: A Marriage Made in Hell? - Search ...

Vaccines - a victim of its on effectiveness

2009-11-27T02:49:00.000+02:00

The other day, J. was discussing the recent flu vaccine with his cousin who said that “vaccines are not really necessary now, right? there’s not a lot of these diseases around anyway”.

Sarcastic analogy time!

You know, J. believes that proper sewerage systems are overrated and a waste of money. Look around you now. What is the incidence rate of cholera in Singapore? All these sewer systems can break down, burst open the road and cause road disruptions. They are a waste of taxpayers money. Sewerage systems bad.

End of analogy!

There’s this lack of realisation that the reason we enjoy this relatively pertussis, measles, polio and mumps free environment is a good public health system aided by the compulsory administration of the MMR (measles, mumps, rubella), polio and DPT (diphteria, pertussis, tetanus) vaccines. That vaccines were the reason for the eradication of smallpox. And that in areas in the world where vaccination rates have dropped below herd immunity levels, these diseases (except possibly smallpox) can make a comeback.

Next, there’s this lack of realisation that these diseases can cause serious health problems that outweigh the risks of vaccine reactions. This is thinking that needs to be adjusted.

[Via http://practicality.wordpress.com]

More Black Friday Bad News: Why Cheap TVs Might Really Cost You ...

Stifling anger at work can kill-Reuters.

2009-11-25T16:53:00.000+02:00

All emotions have their roots in instincts,specifically Survival instinct.Emotions are natural expressions of the organism to protect itself.Bottling them up will result in physical problems,for instance when in anger or in a fighting mood more adrenalin is released and if it is not released it shall affect health.

Express your feelings and emotions.To avoid unpleasantness in life, express them in a way that is socially acceptable and at the same time give vent to your feelings.This needs training and practice. Channelize emotions, not suppress them.One simple way to give vent to your anger and frustration is to punch a soft pillow till your feeling subsides or jump in private with out clothes.Especially the second one seems to be funny, try it, you shall know.

Story:

SINGAPORE (Reuters Life!) – Men who bottle up their anger at being unfairly treated at work are up to five times more likely to suffer a heart attack, or even die from one, than those who let their frustration show, a Swedish study has found.

The study by the Stress Research Institute of Stockholm University followed 2,755 employed men who had not suffered any heart attacks from 1992 to 2003.

At the end of the study, 47 participants had either suffered an attack, or died from heart disease, and many of those had been found to be “covertly coping” with unfair treatment at work.

“After adjustment for age, socioeconomic factors, risk behaviors, job strain and biological risk factors at baseline, there was a close-response relationship between covert coping and the risk of incident myocardial infarction or cardiac death,” the study’s authors wrote.

Covert coping was listed as “letting thing pass without saying anything” and “going away” despite feelings of being hard done by colleagues or bosses.

Men who often used these coping techniques had a two to fivefold higher risk of developing heart disease than those who were more confrontational at work, the study showed.

The researchers said they could not answer the question of what might be a particularly healthy coping strategy at work, but listed open coping behavior when experiencing unfair treatment or facing a conflict as “protesting directly,” “talking to the person right away,” “yelling at the person right away” or “speaking to the person later when things have calmed down.”

The study was published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

http://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idUSTRE5AN0J820091124

[Via http://ramanan50.wordpress.com]

Apple exec Schiller discusses App Store | iLounge News

Brazilian 'mint' tea is natural painkiller

2009-11-25T10:46:00.000+02:00

Hyptis crenata has been prescribed by Brazilian healers for millennia to treat ailments from headaches and stomach pain to fever and flu.

A team from the University of Newcastle found that when the mint was given in a dose similar to that prescribed by traditional Brazilian healers, the medicine was as effective at relieving pain as a synthetic aspirin-style drug.

Lead researcher Graciela Rocha is Brazilian and remembers being given the tea as a cure for every childhood illness. She said “It tastes more like sage, which is another member of the mint family. Not that nice really, but then medicine isn’t supposed to be nice, is it?”

[Via http://teammccallum.wordpress.com]

ZAGG debuts ZAGGskins for iPod, iPhone | iLounge News

DoD Defense Medical Research and Development Program Basic Research Grants

2009-11-23T18:10:00.000+02:00

Funding Source: Dept. of the Army

Funding Type: Discretionary, Grant/Cooperative Agreement

Total Available: $60 Million

Award Ceiling: N/A

Deadline: 02.17.10

Eligibility: Unrestricted

Description:

This Program Announcement/Funding Opportunity is focused on basic research, defined as research directed towards attaining greater knowledge and understanding of fundamental principles of science and medicine. The DMRDP Basic Research Award is designed to promote new ideas that are still in the early stages of development and have the potential to yield highly impactful data and new avenues of investigation. This mechanism supports conceptually innovative, high-risk/high-reward research that could ultimately lead to critical discoveries or major advancements that will accelerate the delivery of new medical countermeasures and information to protect military personnel from a variety of health threats inherent in the military operational environment, and to effectively diagnose and treat these personnel when they are ill or injured. These awards will also support basic research to enhance the training and education of military personnel and health care providers. Presentation of preliminary data is not required. However, investigators must demonstrate logical reasoning and a sound scientific rationale established through a critical review and analysis of the literature for the proposal to be competitive. Research projects should include a well-formulated, testable hypothesis based on strong scientific rationale. Awards under this announcement will consist solely of assistance agreements. This announcement is intended only for extramural investigators. Other announcements will be released for intramural investigators. An intramural investigator is defined as a Department of Defense (DOD) employee working within a DOD laboratory or medical treatment facility (MTF), or a DOD activity embedded within a civilian medical center. An extramural investigator is defined as all those not included in the definition of intramural investigator.

[Via http://grants.gspconsulting.com]

New Business Models for News talk « BuzzMachine

Baby Talk and Other Things

2009-11-23T01:53:00.000+02:00

It’s nice to be around other ladies that are pregnant and due within a month or two of me. I love getting to chat with them and share stories without feeling like I’m getting advice. Not that I have anything against advice, exactly. Anyway, my friends are just so good at being able to chat about pregnancy and the life of being a mother to a toddler to where it is enjoyable. And one of the best parts being that they don’t project pregnancy symptoms onto themselves. Just one example, many women know that your belly can get itchy during pregnancy, but just because you’ve heard women talk about it or you’ve read it in a book doesn’t mean that you have to convince yourself that you are experiencing it too. There’s actually a lot I could list here, but I’ll stick with one.

I generally do not share much about Spencer’s birth story with other people. I don’t care to bring attention to myself like that. Besides when I say I had HELLP people want information on it since pretty much no one has heard of it and doesn’t it sound so dramatic to say “It’s when your liver swells to the point it could rupture and your blood pressure shoots up so high you’re at a huge risk for a stroke and your blood vessels constrict so tight that your blood cells are shredded like playdough in a spaghetti maker and your platelets drop so low that you could bleed to death easily.” Yeah, I thought that sounded dramatic too. Not my style.

Anyway, there’s another girl in my ward that had HELLP with her son, though it was not so severe and presented no complications for her other than being induced a week early. Thank goodness for her! She has been caught in the same situation Kevin and I were in, how will it affect the growth of their family? Is it worth risking again? She’s pretty interested in how things are going with the doctors and everything. I’m hoping things go well (duh, of course) so that she can have some peace of mind.

I also was speaking with another friend, her daughter is SO adorable, who is on zofran. She only needed it during her first trimester with Millie and is hoping it’s the same way this time. So far I have had to continue taking the pills, wishing I didn’t have to.

Speaking of zofran, I skipped a couple of doses the other day. BIG mistake! First, I got a headache. Not just like any old headache. This was a migraine type headache. Now, I know how to handle these things, I’ve had doctors trying to shove pills down my throat for migraines since I was 12. But this was one of the worst I’ve had, I think. And because I’d skipped my medicine I was nauseated so I couldn’t say it was from my head or from pregnancy. Because of it though, my gag reflex was so awful and every time I’d gag (for no apparent reason other than swallowing) it would feel like my head was going to split open. Once I got home, after Kevin convinced me to eat some toast before bed, I just wanted to go to sleep so I could sleep through the pain and not deal with it. Haha, yeah right! My head hurt so badly it actually woke me up twice that night. I’ve had some killer migraines, ones that have caused me to throw up before, but I’ve never had one wake me up because it hurt so badly. Reading up on the medication, there were several complaints about “zofran hangovers.” So now, when I go to the doctor next week I will have to ask her how to tell the difference between a zofran hangover and a HELLP/Pre-eclampsia headache. I don’t think I need to worry this early in my pregnancy but we’re trying not to take chances this time.

Also, when I understood that this medicine would be playing with the serotonin in my brain I was concerned about my mental health. Low serotonin levels produce insomnia, depression, food cravings, increased sensitivity to pain, aggressive behavior, and poor body-temperature regulations. It’s hard to say if I have experienced any of that or not. Pregnancy seems to do all those things, except the depression, I’m not really a depressed kind of person. The increased sensitivity to pain might explain why the headache hurt so badly. Better get off this stuff before I have this baby! My thermostat has pretty much always been broken, so I don’t know. Anyway, I haven’t had the blues like I was first concerned about so that’s good news.

Oh, and if you want to know about food cravings, I’ve only craved things I am not supposed to eat and so I haven’t. Sushi is the biggest craving so far, really. What I wouldn’t give for a table covered in dragon rolls, caterpillar rolls, mexican rolls, crunch rolls, and a great dollop of wasabi next to a pile of pickled ginger. Oh man, I miss my sushi! I can have veggie sushi, but I don’t know if I’d have the self control to just get veggie sushi so I’ve just stayed away. The second craving being corn dogs. A delicious corn dog dipped in ketchup and mustard. But, I’m trying to listen to the doctors orders and stay away from them. Sad. Otherwise it’s fried shrimp with cocktail sauce. My friend was going to take me to Red Lobster for their all-you-can-eat-any-way-you-like-it-shrimp, but we never made it down for it. Oh well, I don’t think I could eat my money’s worth anyway so it’s probably for the best.

[Via http://babyinthemaking.wordpress.com]

openSUSE News » openSUSE Kernel Repository is public

Move your phantom limbs Mentally!-Fox News.

2009-11-20T17:50:00.000+02:00

Indian philosophy recognizes mind as an organ like other organs, but ranked Superior.Sri Krishna declares in the Bhagavad Gita-”I am Mind among organs”

Activity of the brain is mind;activity of the mind is intellect and Chitta is on a higher plane.

By controlling and channelizing Chitta any thing is possible(incidentally, nothing is Super natural according to Indian Philosophy,everything is Natural).

Yoga is built around this concept.We are what we think;we think because of what we eat.

Story:

“Phantom” pain is like a ghost in the body — but it’s anything but imaginary. People who have had an arm or leg amputated can often still feel sensations of the missing limb, even though it’s no longer there. These sensations can be painful, and scientists are always looking for new ways to help relieve this phantom pain for amputees. Treatment often involves using mirrors to visually trick the person’s brain. The thinking is that, if a person can “see” his own body in a new way, his brain may stop sending pain messages.

In a new study, a team of neuroscientists have made another surprising discovery about amputees: They can be taught to mentally move their missing limbs in ways that are impossible in the real, physical world. It’s impossible for a person to bend his wrist down and then twist his hand around in a full circle.

Seven people who had had their arms amputated above the elbow participated in the experiment. After extensive mental training, four of the seven were able to feel the sensation of this impossible act, and describe it in detail.

“It is very surprising that anybody — amputees or not — can learn impossible movements just by thinking about it,” Henrik Ehrsson of the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, told Science News. Ehrsson is a neuroscientist, which is a scientist who studies the brain and nervous system.

Although the study itself is interesting, it may be able to help people with other kinds of mental disorders. A person with anorexia nervosa, for example, loses her appetite and/or stops eating, sometimes with fatal results. People with anorexia are usually believed to have a distorted self-image and often see themselves in an extremely negative way. But people suffering from this condition may benefit from this new research, Lorimer Moseley of the Prince of Wales Medical Research Institute in Randwick, Australia, told to Science News. Just as amputees imagined their phantom limbs could move in impossible ways, a person with anorexia may be able to change self-image by concentrating on a change to the body.

V.S. Ramachandran is a neuroscientist and the director of the Center for Brain and Cognition at the University of California, San Diego. In his research, Ramachandran has shown that phantom pain can be reduced with the help of a mirror. The mirror is placed so that when the amputee looks in the mirror, it looks like he has both hands. As he looks at the reflection, he clenches and unclenches his one hand while—and it appears as though both hands and are clenching and unclenching. At the same time, he mentally clenches and unclenches his phantom hand. When he sees both hands unclenching, he feels pain lessen.

Ramachandran says his mirror therapy, as well as the new research, show that much is left to learn about how the brain perceives the body. “Body image turns out to be extraordinarily plastic,” Ramachandran told Science News. “We think of ourselves as stable people with a stable body image — but we can inhabit a body that cannot exist in the physical world.”

http://sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/49687/title/FOR_KIDS_New_twists_for_phantom_limbs

Fox News airs old footage from 2008 Palin rallies to pump up ...

What I found out about the differences in Bipolar and Borderline Personality Disorder

2009-11-20T02:33:00.000+02:00

Today I had a appointment with an intake counselor here in Durham. When she started talking about Bipolar and Borderline Personality Disorder, I had to stop her before she got to far ahead of me. You see my memory fucking sucks and if I’m getting a lot of technical information, I won’t retain it. So I had to slow her down, tell her I needed the information in child language, and take notes.

When I asked her about the difference in the two, she informed me there were only three real differences.

1) Bipolar is a chemical in-balance of the brain, Borderline Personality Disorder is something you learn as you grow up, basically a life’s lesson taught by your family, friends, and yourself as you grow up.

2) Borderline Personality Disorder is primarily about relationships and how you perceive them, including how you feel about yourself. One minute your hot or on, the next minute your cold or off.

3) There is no medical treatment for Borderline Personality Disorder as their is with Bipolar, just learning to relive your life.

So according to the Licensed Clinical Counselor I spoke with today, those are the only 3 real differences between the 2. Well thank you very much for someone finally explaining it to me. My next step is an intensive 90 days of therapy. First 30 days I will go to 3 different counseling sessions a week, the next 30 days I will go to 2, then the last 30 days I will go once a week. Each week will be a mix of group therapy and individual therapy. Should I decide I want to go to just one or the other therapy I will be dropped from the program as both therapies are connected with the other. The therapy sessions are called, Triumph. What the hell it stands for, I have no clue. LOL.

I concerned about this, because the Counselor didn’t talk about sending me to Psych Counseling. She thinks the Triumph program will help me with my Bipolar in it’s own way. My concern is that the Borderline Personality Disorder will take over, leaving the Bipolar mistreated besides by the medications they will be putting me on December 10th. So I’m at a confusion point with my disease and my lifestyle traits. LOL. I think that is how I will refer to Borderline Personality Disorder from here on out, lifestyle traits, since thats all it really is.

I did shock the counselor as I recounted my life. She told me she has been bad, but never that much bad shit happening in one persons live and that person still being alive. She then said the one thing that drives me fucking nuts “you seem like a very strong girl”. Do they not see it’s all a big fake piece of existence? The hiding in a corner from the world? Help me damn it! I’m a little girl stuck inside a big girl’s body!

Some new developments in myself that I’m coming across. 1) I’m seeing hallucinations, 2) The self mutilating has increased 3) I’m hearing voices and things that aren’t there. Woo Hoo someone call me a funny farm wagon. LOL. Thats actually what I almost told the counselor today.

Lord help me, surely I’m not getting that bad after being so long without my medication or counseling.

Yahoo Brings 'Real Time' Updates To News Shortcut

nip/tuck

2009-11-18T01:45:00.000+02:00

Agamben wrote of the doctor who, terminally ill with leukemia, turns his body into a laboratory. This marks a certain extreme point in the production of the biopolitical body. But what are we to make of the plastic surgeon who operates on the mere surface of the body, and even their own body. Can we speak of a threshold beyond the threshold: of a space of pure surface, in which the involuted topology of the biopolitical body has been folded out again into a contact, essential and irreducible, with the values (metaphysical, spectacular, even ideological) that have always concealed its presence. Of course: the surface is just a surface. But doesn’t this surface already come from beyond the deepest depths?

The beauty of appearance resists the formation of the biopolitical body. The cosmetic surface of the body, as limit and boundary, is the zone of a coming-into-appearance that always transcends the structure of sovereign domination. Hannah Arendt, in the Human Condition, saw this clearly: the fateful turn of metaphysics was from the idea of beauty to the idea of the good. We cannot exactly follow her in a move that threatens to aestheticize politics, but there is this grain of truth. The superfluity of beauty resists the gesture by which power enforces itself through the production of depths. It is the anti-metaphysical moment of metaphysics: the surface of metaphysics that betrays its inner truth. There can be no return to the polis: but perhaps we can recognize in the everyday a residual space of appearance.

The plastic surgeon wants to operate on himself. This is impossible for every other surgeon. But for the plastic surgeon it is almost possible. The next best thing is to get a friend to do it: surgery, the most violent of interventions, becomes the gift of friendship.

A strange exchange. Politicians becoming doctors, doctors becoming politicians — this is the terrible story of the 20th century. But now doctors become friends…

The greatness of the modern television drama is this: the perfect fusion of kitsch sentimentality and macabre, Baroque, sophistication. If there were only aesthetic daring, the relentless exposure of nasty truth, it would be much more insipid, predictable, easy. The plastic surgeon — like the vampire, like the undertaker — is a a metaphor for this uncanny conjunction. The corpus, invoked in the first gestures of political modernity, becomes the beautiful corpse.

Is the camp the paradigm of biopolitical modernity? Or is it not, rather, Miami: the city overwhelmed with floods of every kind — of refugees, of drugs, of crime, and every sort of “contamination.” The city exposed: the city as the exposure and porosity of national boundaries. But also of savage beauty…

Dallas Cowboys Blog | Sports News | News for Dallas, Texas ...

"Too many OB/GYNs aren't able to practice their love with women all across this country."-George Bush

2009-11-16T18:22:00.000+02:00

George W. Bush via last.fm

OMG! (to steal a phrase from those much younger than I), LOL. In fact, I can’t stop laughing. I have been looking at one of the areas of tort reform that is hotly contested in Michigan, and I came across this marvelous quote from George Bush, acting as President back in 2004:

“Too many OB/GYNs aren’t able to practice their love with women all across this country.”–George Bush

Are you laughing too?? I am still laughing. I think it’s particularly accurate considering some of the things I have heard about the manner in which OB/GYN’s “practice” medicine, instituting their opinions and “care” when women are in their most vulnerable and passive positions and physical states. God, it doesn’t get really any better than that. I had been looking at articles about how medical malpractice lawsuits would influence tort reform, and I came across that quote that had to be shared.

Where was I? Oh yeah, talking about medical malpractice reform, but here is a good quote too:

In 2003, the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies issued a devastating report detailing the scope and gravity of the safety of the U.S. health care system. Two studies showed that “at least 44,000 people, and perhaps as many as 98,000 people, die in hospitals each year as a result of medical errors that could have been prevented.” As the New York Times’ David Leonhardt found in September 2009, “After reviewing thousands of patient records, medical researchers have estimated that only 2 to 3 percent of cases of medical negligence lead to a malpractice claim.” And as Tom Baker, director of the Insurance Law Center at the University of Connecticut School of Law and author of The Malpractice Myth, noted in August, the rate of claims is going down:

“We have approximately the same number of claims today as in the late 1980s. Think about that. The cost of health care has doubled since then. The number of medical encounters between doctors and patients has gone up — and research shows a more or less constant rate of errors per hospitalizations. That means we have a declining rate of lawsuits relative to numbers of injuries.”

So, while health care costs more, causes the same injuries and people go to the doctor more, lawsuits have gone down because of tort reforms designed to protect doctors at the expense of patient rights. That’s what I really wanted to get out when I found the quote about doctors and their loves. I guess I will just have to put this in another post. I am laughing to hard at George Bush.

Life's Issues

2009-11-16T02:21:00.000+02:00

Just because my eyes dont tear, doesn’t mean my heart doesn’t cry & just because I come off strong doesn’t mean there’s nothing wrong

Today, I had to go see my ex-husband to beg him to go get my medications for me. Not a happy sight since we are divorced for his abusive behavior. But they are my heart medications so it was either go with out them or ask someone and I feel I’ve panhandled Larry and my Grandma enough to last them a year, if not more.

I want to self-mutilate so bad right now, but I know I have to fight the urge. After all, thats the whole reason why I’m at my mom’s house. I have been bad about it pone too many times and fear as often as the urge is coming on that one day I might just take it too far and slice through a major artery. How can one person have so much to live for and so little left for life? I ask myself this all the time and never can seem to find an answer.

My mouth and body are in manic mode, my head is in depressed mode, driving my mom nuts right now. LOL. Kinda like it since it means I’m up doing things even if I’m in a fog doing them. Today I worked on 2 wreaths to try to sell on ebay, made fudge mini cakes, peppermint fudge mini cakes, washed Tiger (my truck), cleaned moms house and did her laundry, put away her groceries, and made 4 shoe boxes full of christmas stuff for her church to give to this organization that donates them to children. All in All her church made a 100 boxes, I made a whole 4 of them. I’m proud of myself for getting up and doing things, but like I said I’ve been in a fog doing it.

I have been walking, but it doesnt work with me like the gym did. This time last year I was doing 7 days a week, 2 hours a day. I so wish I could get back into that. I was losing weight and my mind wasn’t as bad as it is this year. I was actually proud of myself. Another thing that has me down is no money. I want to add things to my blog and in order to do so, i have to buy the domain and set it up. Can’t do much without money and I’m seeing that. But at the same time, I can’t work, my mind is too fucked up right now to do anything like working. Plus my cuts don’t look good in my line of work where your dealing with the public so most employers won’t hire me anyway.

I fucking hate that I don’t know where I am anymore. I’m so tired, I’m waiting for sleep to come even though I won’t sleep. The last time I had a decent nights sleep was in Georgia a few weeks ago. I wish I had had more time to visit my dear friend longer……

US policies creating speculation: China | Global Crisis News

Hypocrisy, I love you so

2009-11-13T10:15:00.000+02:00

Turns out the Republican National Committee’s Insurance plan covers abortion!

The memo said the RNC received a phone call from a reporter on Wednesday asking whether the RNC’s health care policy, through Cigna, covered elective abortions for employees. On Thursday, Politico.com published a report citing two sales agents for Cigna who said the RNC’s policy covered elective abortion.

The Cigna employees said the RNC didn’t choose to opt out of abortion coverage when given the opportunity, Politico.com reported.

Of course, now the RNC is rapidly changing their coverage plan. Sucks to be a female RNC employee today. But then, it probably always does, in one way or another. (Thanks, Jender-Mom!)

Fox News Fact-Checks Sarah Palin -- Daily Intel

Dementia drug use 'killing many'-BBC.

2009-11-13T02:39:00.000+02:00

Anti depressants,mood elevators and sleeping tablets also affect the Brain,Heart and kidney.

Beware.

Story:

Needless use of anti-psychotic drugs is widespread in dementia care and contributes to the death of many patients, an official review suggests.

About 180,000 patients a year are given the drugs in care homes, hospitals and their own homes to manage aggression.

But the expert review – commissioned by ministers – said the treatment was unnecessary in nearly 150,000 cases and was linked to 1,800 deaths.

The government in England has agreed to take steps to reduce use of the drugs.

These include:

Improving access to other types of therapy, such as counselling

Better monitoring of prescribing practices

Guidance for families explaining what they can do if they are worried about drug use

Specialist training in dementia for health and social care staff

Appointment of a new national director for dementia to oversee the measures

The review – and the government pledge to take action – comes after long-running concerns about the use of anti-psychotic drugs.

Over the past 30 years, the NHS has increasingly turned to the treatment, which was originally aimed at people with schizophrenia, as it has struggled to cope with the rise in people with dementia.

‘Different mindset’

There are currently 700,000 people in the UK with the condition, but this is expected to rise to one million in the next 10 years because of the ageing population.

The review, led by King’s College London expert Professor Sube Banerjee, accepted that for some people anti-psychotic drugs would be necessary.

But it said they should be used only for a maximum of three months and when the person represented a risk to themselves or others.

Professor Banerjee estimated that of the 180,000 people given the drugs each year, only 36,000 benefited.

He said health and social care services needed to develop a “different mindset”.

Allan Trueman’s father “became a totally different person”

He believes if the steps the government has agreed to are followed, anti-psychotic drug use could be reduced by two-thirds within three years.

Care services minister Phil Hope agreed action was needed.

“We know there are situations where anti-psychotic drug use is necessary – we’re not calling for a ban, but we do want to see a significant reduction in use.”

Neil Hunt, chief executive of the Alzheimer’s Society, said the long-awaited review was a welcome recognition of the scale of the problem.

He added: “This goes beyond quality of care. It is a fundamental rights issue.

“Our members tell us of enormous worry and distress over what is happening to their loved ones.”

The Royal College of GPs – in most cases the drugs are prescribed by family doctors – admitted the situation was “unacceptable”.

President Dr Steve Field said: “People deserve much better.”

While the review was commissioned by the government in England, ministers elsewhere in the UK have agreed to study the recommendations.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8356423.stm

Catholic Culture : Latest Headlines : Bishop Tobin publicly calls ...

To Know About Vitamin C

2009-11-11T10:33:00.000+02:00

There have always been debates over the use of vitamin C in skin care products. It has always been in debate as some have the opinion that it is helpful while some says that it is harmful. Though different people have different experience and opinions about them yet the known facts of Vitamin C is a good one. It is an oxidant hence it have certain beneficial effects such as reversing the free radicals damage that is generally caused due to sun exposure. It is also the main component of collagen that provides the

The potential use of Vitamin C have shown to enhance the youthful appearance of the skin and is also found to prevent and even seen to resist reversing of existing damage and anti aging. Products containing pure form of vitamin C are generally acidic in nature that leads to the product having an exfoliating effect. This can be beneficial to someone when it is used properly. Not only these but it is also been found that Vitamin C is useful in repairing that is caused due to the use of overly harsh soaps and lotions.

There are negative sides of this Vitamin. It is generally an unstable compound in and of itself and if it is exposed to nature then gets oxidized and loses all the benefits that it contains. If someone uses a product containing oxidized Vitamin C then instead of repairing for the condition that it is being used for, it generally worsens the case. Thus to prevent all these risks of damage a newer form of it is used known as vitamin c derivative that is cheaper and more stable without any side effects.

Ricoh GXR interchangeable unit camera, previewed: Digital ...

Antibiotic overuse threatens modern medicine: experts-Reuters

2009-11-11T02:28:00.000+02:00

Despite repeated warnings people still pop up anti-biotics at the drop of a hat.

Doctors who prescribe them immediately as soon as the patients come to them(this is a fact, at least in India),drug shops which issue them with out prescriptions and sales promotion by way of heavy advertising by Pharma companies are also equally responsible.

Story:

LONDON (Reuters) – Overuse of antibiotics in Europe is building widespread resistance and threatening to halt vital medical treatments such as hip replacements, intensive care for premature babies and cancer therapies, health experts say.

Dominique Monnet of the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control’s (ECDC) scientific advice unit said the “whole span of modern medicine” is under threat because bugs are become resistant to antibiotics, rendering the drugs useless.

http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE5A927820091110?feedType=nl&feedName=ushealth1100

Fox News' "Strategy Room": Web Video That Clicks

Pray for Pay

2009-11-09T18:24:00.000+02:00

A recent post at one of my favorite blogs, Bad Astronomy, linked me to another very good blog post at NeuroLogica, which went into detail about something a little bit disturbing: a provision being slipped into the Senate’s health reform bill by wingnut Senator Orrin Hatch, and co-sponsored by Senator John Kerry. What is this addition, you may ask?

It would prohibit insurers from discriminating against “religious and spiritual health care”, including prayer healing. (linky linky)

Yes, as if the Senate hadn’t done enough to totally mess up the drive for health care reform, we now have this steaming pile that would require insurance companies (some of which, as I understand it, would be subsidized by our tax dollars) to pay people to pray for you. The links I’ve posted above go into a better detail about what “prayer therapy” really is, and who the people behind it are, and I urge you to click them and learn more. However, I just thought I would share one point that really struck me.

Why would you pay someone to pray for you?

Last time I checked, it didn’t cost anything to say a prayer. As a materialist I believe that it’s all a bunch of baloney anyway, but even if I was a believer, it simply doesn’t make much sense to me that you and your family can pray your little hearts out, but God only responds to professional Prayerists. To be fair, I understand that the Christian Science prayer therapists who do this sort of thing charge a ridiculously low amount; about what it would cost to cover their gas & meals. However, the whole idea that God only listens to a small group of individuals who will gladly pray on your behalf for a nominal fee, or that you need to hire some sort of special trainer or coach to help you pray the correct way, is troubling to me. Even more troubling is the prospect that this could create a prayer industry, flush with professional prayer therapists who go around “speaking to God” on your behalf, charging off huge sums of money to your insurance company (which can’t legally deny their claim), and making a fortune while driving up insurance premiums for the rest of us.

Now, this is disregarding several other facts, such as: prayer therapy doesn’t work (and can even be dangerous), my tax dollars shouldn’t be spent financing your church, and it’s offensive and stupid for the government to elevate superstition to the level of science. But I imagine that even those who have religious faith would be a little suspicious of anyone asking them to pay for prayers.

Hopefully this gets weeded out.

News Corp Peeing Away $1 Million A Month On Empty MySpace Office

Another Drug_Stupid...

2009-11-09T10:29:00.000+02:00

70 percent of doctors treating Medicare patients flunked an

exam on their knowledge of prescribing for older adults.
The majority of physicians who were asked to take the exam

refused, often giving as their reason that they had a “lack of

interest in the subject.”
48 percent of patients taking three or more drugs were given

drugs with one or more harmful interactions with other drugs.
Every minute, two people are hospitalized for adverse drug

reactions (1,500,000 a year) and there is a death every five

minutes and 15 seconds (100,000 a year).
Every three-and one-quarter minutes, someone suffers drug-induced or drug-worsened memory loss (163,000 a year).

It is Reversible if you know which drug was the cause!

Help! Help…and Help!

Cable News Snapshot: 11:08pmET 11/07/2009 - mediabistro.com: TVNewser

Lieberman shill & a whore!

2009-11-06T10:47:00.000+02:00

Senator Joe “Aetna” Lieberman doesn’t have a view. He just does what he is told by those who own him. He’s the biggest whore (no offense to actual sex workers) for insurance companies, to date he has received over 2.5 million dollars to continuously block a public health option.

Joe and his wife are major shills for the health insurance cabal. There is no need for debate, as far as they are concerned. They have made a huge pile of money from their health insurance buddies.

His wife works for insurance lobbying firms…think there’s a conflict of interest? ..Apparently Republicans & spineless Democrats don’t see one. Meanwhile 45,000 uninsured Americans die annually.

mobilizeforhealthcare.org

"Fox News Sunday" Ratings: Rush Limbaugh Gives Chris Wallace Big Boost

Emergency House Call--Give Them Hell Michelle Bachmann, Mark Levin, John Voight--Kill The Bill--Vote Them Out!

2009-11-06T02:44:00.000+02:00

Thomas Jefferson’s Prophetic Wisdom

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) At House Call On Washington Health Care Press Conference 11-5-09

Mark Levin Speech to HOUSE CALL 11 05 09

Jon Voight Speech to HOUSE CALL 11 05 09

The Meaning of Independence Day

An Inspirational Video

Background Articles and Videos Bachmann “House Call” Delivers Viral Response To A Sick Govt. Share:

by Edmund Jenks | November 5, 2009″…Michele Bachmann’s message for conservatives traveling to Washington to attend her Capitol Hill “House Call” event today is simple: “Go into the Capitol and find members of Congress,” she told activists Wednesday night. “Don’t bring your pitchforks, bring your video cameras. And get them on record saying how they’re going to vote and why. And tell them, ‘Take your hands off my health care!’ “

Bachmann (R-Minn.) gave the marching orders on a conference call of top activists, many of whom planned to board buses in New Jersey and North Carolina this morning to attend the event that the congresswoman thought up last week. “Nothing is more influential than an eyeball-to-eyeball meeting between a freedom-loving constituent and a member of Congress,” she explained. “Nothing scares a member of Congress more than freedom-loving Americans.” …”

http://www.nowpublic.com/world/bachmann-house-call-delivers-viral-response-sick-govt

Battling Pelosicare; Update: Thousands descend on D.C., “You work for us!” By Michelle Malkin •

“…Hey, Nancy, look out the window. You can see health care protesters from your House.

House Republicans are holding a 12-hour live online telecast today starting at 1pm Eastern to expose the perils and pitfalls of Pelosicare — and to spotlight the GOP alternative.

You can tune in here. Spread the word.

***

Reminder: Rep. Michele Bachmann, Mark Levin, and Jon Voight will join other House Republicans and grass-roots activists from across the country on the Capitol steps at noon today to protest the Democrats’ government health care takeover plans. Be there in spirit for Operation Housecall by melting the phones today.

***

The CBO has scored the GOP health care reform alternative:

House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) issued the following statement after the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) confirmed in a letter tonight that the Republican health care plan will lower health care premiums by up to 10 percent and reduce the deficit by $68 billion over 10 years without imposing tax increases on families and small businesses:

“When it comes to reforming health care, controlling skyrocketing costs is the American peoples’ top priority. Now CBO has confirmed that the Republican plan will lower health care costs for American families, and that’s good news for everyone struggling in today’s economy. The choice now could not be clearer: Speaker Pelosi’s plan raises costs. Our plan lowers them.

“Not only does the GOP plan lower health care costs, but it also increases access to quality care – including for those with pre-existing conditions – at a price our country can afford. The cost of the Speaker’s bill, now at $1.3 trillion and counting, is a debt that will be paid for by our kids and our grandkids. The American people deserve a better solution, and Republicans’ smart, fiscally-responsible plans give them exactly what they want.”

NOTE: In a letter delivered tonight, CBO estimated that the GOP health care plan would reduce average private health insurance premiums per enrollee in the United States relative to what they would be under current law. Specifically:

• For the small group market (generally businesses with 2 to 50 employees), the GOP plan would reduce premiums in 2016 for example by up to 10 percent.

• For the individual market, the GOP plan would reduce premiums in 2016 by up to eight percent.

• For the large group market, the GOP plan would reduce premiums in 2016 by up to three percent.

Now is the time to disabuse Nancy Pelosi of the delusional notion that she “won” election night. …”

http://michellemalkin.com/

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Manchester's New GOP Mayor Hears from 2012 Hopefuls - George's ...

ESSENTIAL OIL & SCENT HISTORY part 2

2009-11-04T10:40:00.000+02:00

Essential oil history is really the history of plants and herbal medicine. As is the history of scents. Essential oils and scents are a part of herbal medicine.

All ancient cultures used aromatic substances and herbs for cooking, healing, scenting and praying. The earliest written herbal text is the “Pen Tsao” (Great Herbal – still in print) which was compiled by Shen Nung, an emperor, during the time of 1 000 to 700 B.C. In this work is listed more than 350 medicinal plants and remedies. Another great and ancient work of plants and medicine is the “Yellow Emperors Classic of Internal Medicine” also still in print. Acupuncture was already used at this time and has since then spread all over the world.

Aromatic substances also played an important role in the lives of the Sumerians who lived along the rivers of Eufrat and Tigris ca 4 000 B.C. From them documentation is found pertaining to the use of herbs for healing. The Babylonians and Assyrians left inscriptions of different laws among which there are instructions for the use of plants and spices in medicine. In Persia a clay-receptable was found that is believed to be a crude form of distillation-apparatus. It is dated to 2 500 B.C. Similar receptables are still used in the area for distillation purposes.

In India the medicine of Ayur Veda has existed in written form since 1 000 B.C. Ayur Veda has become an increasingly popular form of alternative medicine and can today be found all over the world.

In ancient Rome and Greece medicine developed into a science. Hippocrates (468-377 B.C), known as the father of medicine compiled scripts known as “Corpus Hippocraticum”. Pedanius Dioscorides wrote the classic “De Materia Medica” in the year 60 A.D. This work became the standard basic for medicine during the next 1 500 years. During this time the practice of medicine slowly started to divide into 2 routes;

Empirical; Seeing the body and mind as a whole, interacting unit. Knowledge comes from experience and studies.

Scientific; Seeing the body as a machine that can be repaired. Knowledge comes from studying parts in isolation.

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